Today, Maria talks with Abby Falik, an award-winning social entrepreneur and the founder & CEO of Global Citizen Year - a nonprofit using the power of a global immersion between high school and college to unlock curiosity, conviction, and courage in our next generation leaders. Global Citizen Year has pioneered a model that wraps education and instruction around real-world experience, that offers young leaders the empathy, humility and vision to see opportunities where others see challenges. During their conversation, Abby explains why we need to reframe the gap year as a bridge year - an experience that builds self-awareness, global skills and grit through learning and social impact. They also talk about how, during the COVID-19 pandemic, they launched the Global Citizen Academy to empower emerging leaders to become changemakers who will help address our shared global challenges. Tune in to learn from a recognized expert on social innovation, leadership, and the changing landscape of education who has been profiled by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Abby has been named one of the Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company in 2016, one of America’s Top 25 Philanthropy Speakers by The Business of Giving in 2018, and one of Goldman Sachs’ Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs for the third consecutive year in 2019.
Production team:
Host : Maria Xenidou
Introduction Voice: David Bourne
Contact us:
impactlearningpodcast(at)gmail.com
Music credits:
Like Lee performed by The Mini Vandals
Transition sounds: Swamp Walks performed by Jingle Punks
Where to find more about Abby Falik and Global Citizen Year:
Listen to this episode and explore:
Childhood: travelling around the world with her family and developing an entrepreneurial mindset (4:10)
University: self-designing her bachelor’s degree in International Development and taking a formative gap year during college (7:58)
The most challenging part of her gap year (11:05)
The road to founding Global Citizen Year: her early career and the decision to go to business school (12:56)
Abby’s advice to find your purpose: follow your heartbreak (17:19)
The mission of Global Citizen Year (20:21)
What a Global Citizen Year looks like (22:47)
The support students receive before, during and after their Global Citizen Year (27:54)
The decision to launch the Global Citizen Academy in 2020 (30:56)
How they built the Global Citizen Academy through partnerships (37:17)
The financial model of the Global Citizen Academy: pay what you can (39:37)
The essence of the Global Citizen Year: an apprenticeship for growth and reflection (40:30)
The importance of peer-to-peer learning (42:28)
How Abby sees Global Citizen Year evolve in the future (43:44)
Working closely with Colleges and Universities to bring the change they want to see (44:57)
What Abby wants to leave her mark on during her lifetime (47:48)