[Applause]
tell your story change the conversation
technology is often rather low on our
list of priorities but in reality
technology is incredibly important for
this woman it was a sexual without
technology she could contact family or
those who might be able to support her
she couldn’t be contacted by her
daughter’s schools if one of them had to
come home sick
neither she nor her daughter asks the
tools we often take for granted such as
Microsoft Word or Google Docs and even
the simple things such as if this woman
wanted to do any of these things she had
seen a couple of buses but she never do
is allowed would be open or if there
would be a computer available for her
she needs a solution now technology is
an incredibly broad term it can mean
almost anything for example a pencil is
a piece of writing technology however
our first association with the term
technology is undoubtedly phones laptops
and tablets devices that have become
ubiquitous in our everyday lives and for
good reason I think many of us here can
agree that these devices have made an
incredible difference in the way we
approach our jobs in the way we approach
our education and in the way we
communicate with others what’s easy to
overlook though that these devices can
be an incredible financial burden for
example Apple’s iPhones range from 400
to $1,200 Samsung’s are priced similarly
even reasonably priced vices such as
Google’s Chromebook ring in at about 350
dollars these prices mean if they’re a
significant number of people a fan
here in San Francisco and in the world
at large simply cannot afford these
devices and are therefore excluded from
the digital ecosystem and that fact
doesn’t sit right with me access to
technology is a necessity in our modern
world that’s why in fall of 2016 I
created a non-profit it’s called no VRS
what we do at no VRS has gathered
devices phones laptops and tablets that
are no longer needed at various
companies in schools we then
redistribute these devices to
organizations serving people in need and
since our founding we managed to collect
400 devices and distribute 300 of them
to 17 different organizations serving an
incredible diversity of populations from
young kids learning how to read to
adults seeking jobs to seniors looking
to connect with their friends and with
their family before I continue though
I’d like to adjust something I created
this nonprofit when I was 15 years old
there’s something deeply wrong and I say
that in heavy quotes about that last
statement 15 year olds don’t start
nonprofits or at least they don’t start
real nonprofits that make real change
people have told me this again and again
and again as I stand up here today I’d
like to push back on that notion we as a
global community now more than ever need
young people to go out into the world
and create social change where they want
to see it to make a difference
much like any and every entrepreneur we
young people must work hard for our
successes and we will inevitably face
countless challenges the key is to find
value in those challenges the very first
thing that this nonprofit taught me and
it reminds me over and over again is
that when creating a non-profit or a
business you will encounter a lot of
rejection but rejection is ultimately
one of the most productive and helpful
things you can encounter in fact if
someone rejects you the first thing you
should do is ask them to give you every
single reason why even though it might
sting I remember that about seven months
into creating this nonprofit I was
incredibly proud of the work I had done
and so I applied to this popular summer
teen incubator program
how I scored an interview with the
incubators founder and as soon as I got
on the call with him
he started asking me questions about
five minutes into his questions he told
me very blatantly that he did not like
my idea and I froze I wanted so badly to
ignore his words but he was an
established serial entrepreneur and I
was and still am a 16 year old with a
small rather brand-new nonprofit in that
moment I managed to croak out one word
why without hesitation he started
listing everything he thought was wrong
with this nonprofit and between the
tears I was trying to hold in I heard
him say that I needed to do a better job
of talking to the people receiving
devices from us although that advice was
hard to hear and it took me a long time
to truly hear it it led to the most
significant interaction in my life
remember that woman I mentioned the
beginning the single mother of four
children two months later I sat down
with her and we spoke for around 15
minutes about technology and what it
could do to better help her family but
perhaps more importantly we spent an
hour and a half outside some random
Pete’s coffee in the mission just
talking about anything and everything
our discussion had no goal no endpoint
we were just two people who happen to
come from incredibly different
backgrounds to people who likely
wouldn’t ever have crossed paths in our
everyday lives and so I treasure that
moment to me it was especially
significant that that conversation
resulted from the feelings of doubt and
rejection sewed by that one teen
incubator all of this could not have
happened if it weren’t for my stubborn
determination to take this non profit
from an idea to reality despite the
doubts that I faced and so I take from
this experience that you should never
let anyone tell you you are too young to
create a non-profit create a business or
create change launch of preneur ship is
a big long and scary word I know that I
always thought it was reserved for some
mysterious group of adults who knew
exactly what they were doing and that
assumption made me timid because of it I
was scared to venture into the world of
entrepreneurship a world
thought I could never be a part of but I
can tell you with a hundred percent
certainty now if you have an idea if you
want to create change don’t back down
the spirit of entrepreneurship is taking
initiative trailblazing creating
something that the community would the
world doesn’t yet have your age doesn’t
and shouldn’t inform the quality of your
ideas your motivation or your ability to
create and anyone who tells you
otherwise they’re wrong so when I look
back to my younger self I wish I could
tell her to be strong and bold and brave
to be persistent about making even the
smallest of changes in these last two
years this nonprofit has challenged me
in every facet of my life but what keeps
me going is a single goal to make true
and honest difference in one person’s
life for if you succeed in making a
difference for even just one person then
you have succeeded in making a
difference in the world
from there you can only grow thank you [Applause]
tell your story change the conversation
technology is often rather low on our
list of priorities but in reality
technology is incredibly important for
this woman it was a sexual without
technology she could contact family or
those who might be able to support her
she couldn’t be contacted by her
daughter’s schools if one of them had to
come home sick
neither she nor her daughter asks the
tools we often take for granted such as
Microsoft Word or Google Docs and even
the simple things such as if this woman
wanted to do any of these things she had
seen a couple of buses but she never do
is allowed would be open or if there
would be a computer available for her
she needs a solution now technology is
an incredibly broad term it can mean
almost anything for example a pencil is
a piece of writing technology however
our first association with the term
technology is undoubtedly phones laptops
and tablets devices that have become
ubiquitous in our everyday lives and for
good reason I think many of us here can
agree that these devices have made an
incredible difference in the way we
approach our jobs in the way we approach
our education and in the way we
communicate with others what’s easy to
overlook though that these devices can
be an incredible financial burden for
example Apple’s iPhones range from 400
to $1,200 Samsung’s are priced similarly
even reasonably priced vices such as
Google’s Chromebook ring in at about 350
dollars these prices mean if they’re a
significant number of people a fan
here in San Francisco and in the world
at large simply cannot afford these
devices and are therefore excluded from
the digital ecosystem and that fact
doesn’t sit right with me access to
technology is a necessity in our modern
world that’s why in fall of 2016 I
created a non-profit it’s called no VRS
what we do at no VRS has gathered
devices phones laptops and tablets that
are no longer needed at various
companies in schools we then
redistribute these devices to
organizations serving people in need and
since our founding we managed to collect
400 devices and distribute 300 of them
to 17 different organizations serving an
incredible diversity of populations from
young kids learning how to read to
adults seeking jobs to seniors looking
to connect with their friends and with
their family before I continue though
I’d like to adjust something I created
this nonprofit when I was 15 years old
there’s something deeply wrong and I say
that in heavy quotes about that last
statement 15 year olds don’t start
nonprofits or at least they don’t start
real nonprofits that make real change
people have told me this again and again
and again as I stand up here today I’d
like to push back on that notion we as a
global community now more than ever need
young people to go out into the world
and create social change where they want
to see it to make a difference
much like any and every entrepreneur we
young people must work hard for our
successes and we will inevitably face
countless challenges the key is to find
value in those challenges the very first
thing that this nonprofit taught me and
it reminds me over and over again is
that when creating a non-profit or a
business you will encounter a lot of
rejection but rejection is ultimately
one of the most productive and helpful
things you can encounter in fact if
someone rejects you the first thing you
should do is ask them to give you every
single reason why even though it might
sting I remember that about seven months
into creating this nonprofit I was
incredibly proud of the work I had done
and so I applied to this popular summer
teen incubator program
how I scored an interview with the
incubators founder and as soon as I got
on the call with him
he started asking me questions about
five minutes into his questions he told
me very blatantly that he did not like
my idea and I froze I wanted so badly to
ignore his words but he was an
established serial entrepreneur and I
was and still am a 16 year old with a
small rather brand-new nonprofit in that
moment I managed to croak out one word
why without hesitation he started
listing everything he thought was wrong
with this nonprofit and between the
tears I was trying to hold in I heard
him say that I needed to do a better job
of talking to the people receiving
devices from us although that advice was
hard to hear and it took me a long time
to truly hear it it led to the most
significant interaction in my life
remember that woman I mentioned the
beginning the single mother of four
children two months later I sat down
with her and we spoke for around 15
minutes about technology and what it
could do to better help her family but
perhaps more importantly we spent an
hour and a half outside some random
Pete’s coffee in the mission just
talking about anything and everything
our discussion had no goal no endpoint
we were just two people who happen to
come from incredibly different
backgrounds to people who likely
wouldn’t ever have crossed paths in our
everyday lives and so I treasure that
moment to me it was especially
significant that that conversation
resulted from the feelings of doubt and
rejection sewed by that one teen
incubator all of this could not have
happened if it weren’t for my stubborn
determination to take this non profit
from an idea to reality despite the
doubts that I faced and so I take from
this experience that you should never
let anyone tell you you are too young to
create a non-profit create a business or
create change launch of preneur ship is
a big long and scary word I know that I
always thought it was reserved for some
mysterious group of adults who knew
exactly what they were doing and that
assumption made me timid because of it I
was scared to venture into the world of
entrepreneurship a world
thought I could never be a part of but I
can tell you with a hundred percent
certainty now if you have an idea if you
want to create change don’t back down
the spirit of entrepreneurship is taking
initiative trailblazing creating
something that the community would the
world doesn’t yet have your age doesn’t
and shouldn’t inform the quality of your
ideas your motivation or your ability to
create and anyone who tells you
otherwise they’re wrong so when I look
back to my younger self I wish I could
tell her to be strong and bold and brave
to be persistent about making even the
smallest of changes in these last two
years this nonprofit has challenged me
in every facet of my life but what keeps
me going is a single goal to make true
and honest difference in one person’s
life for if you succeed in making a
difference for even just one person then
you have succeeded in making a
difference in the world
from there you can only grow thank you [Applause]
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