I believe that every decision we make
has the potential to be the creation
moment of a great story right in between
the before and after there is a tiny
tiny little space but in that space we
decide what happens next it’s into what
happens next where we define who we are
is what happens after you commit to
something and you follow through or
dislike not to follow through a year ago
this month I attended my first teddy
bent here in Singapore there I heard a
story an incredible story about a woman
who came to Singapore as a domestic
worker and returned to her country to
start her own business it’s a story of
empowerment and education and of someone
deciding to change the narrative of her
life I was not the only one crying
everyone in the audience was crying so
it was okay to cry after the talks were
over Neel ashika came to our group and
introduced herself and said hello
she told us more about her business and
the nonprofit work that she was doing
helping other woman like herself start
their own business I was quite impressed
that someone could do so much with so
little so I offered my help and she said
yes and I wish my pledge of help would
be more poetic and have more emotion but
it was as simple as that I said kneel
ashika I’m going to help you realize a
dream and she said okay that was that
four months later
Neel ashika and I met again I was
finishing a case study and had time to
take up a new one so I checked her
Facebook feed and noticed that not much
had changed so I saw an opportunity
where I could help her I contacted her
and I offered to coach her
coincidentally she was coming to
Singapore the next day so we met and we
talked and we decided that she would be
my next case study we were going to
explore the possibility of helping her
launch her own tea brand along the way
we met other people that join in the
story people who I’d like to refer to as
the heroes of this story I met an
incredible graphic designer who designed
the logo and branding for neelu tea a
non-profit guru who helps to keep nila
chicas business separate from her
nonprofit work a Dream Maker disguised
as a tea producer and a patient and wise
mentor who keeps me saying everybody
needs a coach so even the coach got a
cup coach in July I trap Srilanka to
meet with their tea producers and take
our own stock images up until this point
I had been using stock images I’d found
on the internet and my knowledge of tea
production and my visuals of what our
branding would be looking like was based
on what I found on the Internet so our
tea producer arranged for us to visit a
tea factory where we learned all there
is to learn about tea ever since taking
that tour tea tastes so much better
because I recognize and I remember all
the hands it touches from garden to cup
quite a remarkable experience after our
tour of the factory we were invited to
go out to the tea gardens where we could
meet the tea pickers who had inspired
our logo our branding and basically the
vision and values for neelu tea as a
photographer for me this was a highlight
in my career it was absolutely enjoyable
to be up in the mountains and create
images that were absolutely satisfying
we decided to spend a little bit of time
with them and as we were getting to know
each other I suggested Tennille ashika
that she should show what the actual
branding and logo looked like one thing
is to describe
what it looked like and another is to
say this is what it looks like
so I happen to have a printout of the
cover page for our marketing
presentation I took it out and I gave it
to Neelu and I said Neelu you should
show it so she did and she starts to do
that a woman in the group shouts we know
this woman this is Nita mother and she’s
referring to the woman in the image of
course that could not be that just
doesn’t happen I’m still getting
goosebumps because I remember how
incredible that moment was eventually
someone went looking for this woman who
they thought was new Tamela and as we’re
waiting we’re all full of anxiety
because there’s so many things you know
this woman could look like the image but
not really be near mother when she
arrives Neelu shows her the image and
asks is this year when Nita my last saw
her image she cried
we all cried ever since I came back to
Singapore after that trip I spent two
days in bed crying because I could not
comprehend how it could happen but it
did there’s a before marry in an after
marry after this moment because I’ve
been a photographer since the age of 13
but this was the first time I could see
with my heart and that’s really not easy
to comprehend so what do you call this
serendipity coincidence God they’re
stars aligning to create a moment out of
the 1 million possibilities when I
search for tea picker I was given 1
million possibilities and out of those
million possibilities I chose this image
and now this image returned to the
mountain where it was originally taken
the sum of all my actions all my
decisions all my good days my bad days
my doubts my fears took me to a moment
where I realized that I was meant to be
there and I was doing exactly what I was
meant to do if there is a way to measure
the impact of our actions in our
decisions that was it the message was
clear we are all connected when I see
this image I see Neelu realizing a dream
I see a photographer’s work going full
circle when the image took return to the
mountain to the woman in that image
I see the TED platform and the reason
why it exists and how stories have the
power to motivate us to go outside of
our comfort zones but the most important
thing that I saw or that I continued to
see with that image is that I didn’t do
it alone and that is the greatest
feeling in the world good stories are
out there and like beacons they’re
sending invitations in the hopes that a
game-changer takes the bait they want to
meet you halfway but you have to take a
journey you have to go and discover
yourself you have to discover the power
that you have to create you have to
discover who you are and your
limitations perhaps you’ll discover that
you have none every motivational quote
out there has some truth to it
they’re fragments of a universal
language and wisdom that comes through
when a person like myself experiences a
glimpse of their life purpose up on top
of that mountain there was a 13 year old
girl who was absolutely excited that 25
years later she had created an image
that beautiful they’re also my doubts
and my fears along with me
there was also passion my mistakes they
were all there standing right next to me
and together we created something
absolutely fantastic
there are 2,000 stories in this room
which one are you going to be part of
because I believe that today you decide
what happens next
thank you
[Applause]
has the potential to be the creation
moment of a great story right in between
the before and after there is a tiny
tiny little space but in that space we
decide what happens next it’s into what
happens next where we define who we are
is what happens after you commit to
something and you follow through or
dislike not to follow through a year ago
this month I attended my first teddy
bent here in Singapore there I heard a
story an incredible story about a woman
who came to Singapore as a domestic
worker and returned to her country to
start her own business it’s a story of
empowerment and education and of someone
deciding to change the narrative of her
life I was not the only one crying
everyone in the audience was crying so
it was okay to cry after the talks were
over Neel ashika came to our group and
introduced herself and said hello
she told us more about her business and
the nonprofit work that she was doing
helping other woman like herself start
their own business I was quite impressed
that someone could do so much with so
little so I offered my help and she said
yes and I wish my pledge of help would
be more poetic and have more emotion but
it was as simple as that I said kneel
ashika I’m going to help you realize a
dream and she said okay that was that
four months later
Neel ashika and I met again I was
finishing a case study and had time to
take up a new one so I checked her
Facebook feed and noticed that not much
had changed so I saw an opportunity
where I could help her I contacted her
and I offered to coach her
coincidentally she was coming to
Singapore the next day so we met and we
talked and we decided that she would be
my next case study we were going to
explore the possibility of helping her
launch her own tea brand along the way
we met other people that join in the
story people who I’d like to refer to as
the heroes of this story I met an
incredible graphic designer who designed
the logo and branding for neelu tea a
non-profit guru who helps to keep nila
chicas business separate from her
nonprofit work a Dream Maker disguised
as a tea producer and a patient and wise
mentor who keeps me saying everybody
needs a coach so even the coach got a
cup coach in July I trap Srilanka to
meet with their tea producers and take
our own stock images up until this point
I had been using stock images I’d found
on the internet and my knowledge of tea
production and my visuals of what our
branding would be looking like was based
on what I found on the Internet so our
tea producer arranged for us to visit a
tea factory where we learned all there
is to learn about tea ever since taking
that tour tea tastes so much better
because I recognize and I remember all
the hands it touches from garden to cup
quite a remarkable experience after our
tour of the factory we were invited to
go out to the tea gardens where we could
meet the tea pickers who had inspired
our logo our branding and basically the
vision and values for neelu tea as a
photographer for me this was a highlight
in my career it was absolutely enjoyable
to be up in the mountains and create
images that were absolutely satisfying
we decided to spend a little bit of time
with them and as we were getting to know
each other I suggested Tennille ashika
that she should show what the actual
branding and logo looked like one thing
is to describe
what it looked like and another is to
say this is what it looks like
so I happen to have a printout of the
cover page for our marketing
presentation I took it out and I gave it
to Neelu and I said Neelu you should
show it so she did and she starts to do
that a woman in the group shouts we know
this woman this is Nita mother and she’s
referring to the woman in the image of
course that could not be that just
doesn’t happen I’m still getting
goosebumps because I remember how
incredible that moment was eventually
someone went looking for this woman who
they thought was new Tamela and as we’re
waiting we’re all full of anxiety
because there’s so many things you know
this woman could look like the image but
not really be near mother when she
arrives Neelu shows her the image and
asks is this year when Nita my last saw
her image she cried
we all cried ever since I came back to
Singapore after that trip I spent two
days in bed crying because I could not
comprehend how it could happen but it
did there’s a before marry in an after
marry after this moment because I’ve
been a photographer since the age of 13
but this was the first time I could see
with my heart and that’s really not easy
to comprehend so what do you call this
serendipity coincidence God they’re
stars aligning to create a moment out of
the 1 million possibilities when I
search for tea picker I was given 1
million possibilities and out of those
million possibilities I chose this image
and now this image returned to the
mountain where it was originally taken
the sum of all my actions all my
decisions all my good days my bad days
my doubts my fears took me to a moment
where I realized that I was meant to be
there and I was doing exactly what I was
meant to do if there is a way to measure
the impact of our actions in our
decisions that was it the message was
clear we are all connected when I see
this image I see Neelu realizing a dream
I see a photographer’s work going full
circle when the image took return to the
mountain to the woman in that image
I see the TED platform and the reason
why it exists and how stories have the
power to motivate us to go outside of
our comfort zones but the most important
thing that I saw or that I continued to
see with that image is that I didn’t do
it alone and that is the greatest
feeling in the world good stories are
out there and like beacons they’re
sending invitations in the hopes that a
game-changer takes the bait they want to
meet you halfway but you have to take a
journey you have to go and discover
yourself you have to discover the power
that you have to create you have to
discover who you are and your
limitations perhaps you’ll discover that
you have none every motivational quote
out there has some truth to it
they’re fragments of a universal
language and wisdom that comes through
when a person like myself experiences a
glimpse of their life purpose up on top
of that mountain there was a 13 year old
girl who was absolutely excited that 25
years later she had created an image
that beautiful they’re also my doubts
and my fears along with me
there was also passion my mistakes they
were all there standing right next to me
and together we created something
absolutely fantastic
there are 2,000 stories in this room
which one are you going to be part of
because I believe that today you decide
what happens next
thank you
[Applause]
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