WHAT IS AN IMPORTANT QUALITY OF AN EFFECTIVE LEADER?

"Leadership at its core, for me, is judgement — or ‘estimation’. The strongest leaders I know - whether personally or as public figures — have this impeccable ability to judge — judge their abilities and inabilities, the strengths and weaknesses of others, adequate communication and organizational strategies, the weight of certain tasks over others, effectiveness of activity and levels of productivity, feedback and criticism, and so forth. The strongest leaders aren’t masters of everything, they’re masters of listening and observing — taking in every detail of their environment and the characters that surround them to deliver results effectively in a way that positively benefits everyone involved." 

WHAT'S A COMMUNITY-BASED ISSUE THAT YOU CARE ABOUT?

"I come from a country where so much is taboo to talk about; as a young person who was always bursting at the seams with curiosity about so much in the world — especially the taboo topics — I felt frustration and one fine day said: “if no one’s gonna talk about, I’ll start.” And that’s how my social media organization and podcast LISTEN came to be! LISTEN stands for ‘love, interact, strengthen, teach, empathise, naturalize’ and these remain core values of mine as I navigate really complex issues across the globe. LISTEN was always about using my voice, especially in an attempt to encourage others to use theirs; I realized that starting a conversation is all it takes to create a dialogue and ultimately, a multifaceted discourse."

TELL US ABOUT SOMETHING OR SOMEONE THAT INSPIRES YOU?

"Benjamin Mee (played by Matt Damon), in We Bought A Zoo (a family favourite movie) says 'all you need is 20 seconds of courage'. I owe so much to this movie for teaching me about what a third of a minute can do, what 20 short seconds can do. I’m grateful to be a student at GWU, to be a lead tutor at Math Matters, to be a podcast host, to be an artist, to be an immigrant in the USA, to be a curious individual fearlessly despite these politically, socially, economically and in-every-other-sense difficult times we live in, all because I keep taking 20 seconds of overwhelming courage. It takes so much energy to gather those 20 seconds but the inertia they generate, and the outcomes they bring to my life time and time again are irreplaceable. Every day that I spend as a community-engaged student leader brings a similar inertia to me all over again. Quite literally, 20 seconds occasionally and being a community-engaged student leader are what drive me!"