MentorTalks: What Do Human Connection and Entrepreneurship Have in Common?
How can travel bind us closer to one another?
On June 4, 2024, CEO and Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) ExchangeAlumni Yasmine El Baggari joined MentorTalks on Instagram Live to discuss founding her platform, Voyaj; how meeting President Barack Obama and then Vice President Joe Biden was a turning point in her life; and the advice she has for others who want to make a difference in their fields.
Go on an inner journey first,” Yasmin says. “Get to know yourself. Developing a sense of empathy and compassion is so necessary for this type of work.”
After taking a Greyhound bus around the country following her international exchange, the entrepreneur was inspired to turn connecting people into a career. In this episode, find out how this experience changed the course of her life, and how her journey since has taught her that everyone has a role to play in working toward greater cultural understanding.
https://bit.ly/MentorTalks-TechConnect
Speaker Biography:
Yasmine El Baggari, a native of Morocco and San Francisco based, is the founder and CEO of Voyaj.com, a global platform that connects people from around the globe for one-on-one meaningful exchanges to foster global understanding and peace. After traveling alone to over 40+ countries, all 50 U.S. States and a guest in more than 200 homes, the hospitality and open-mindedness of the people around the world impacted her greatly and inspired her to bring her own experiences to the world.
Every day, Yasmine is committed to creating a safe environment where the exchange of ideas and stories will result in mutual respect and our ability to embrace our differences, to empower each other to become citizens of the world committed to a healthy, peaceful planet.
For the past decade, Yasmine’s reach includes research at Harvard University, and the U.S. State Department as a Youth Moroccan Ambassador to the United States. Her work has appeared in BBC, National Geographic, NPR, Forbes, and the Huffington Post. Yasmine has also received the Royal Air Maroc Award from the African Studies Association, Glamour Women of the Year Microsoft's Made Achieving Award, Hampshire College’s $60K Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, two Ingenuity Awards and a number of others. Recently, she was invited to the White House as one of the 100 Most Influential Travel Bloggers, and on Forbes 30 Under 30's list as one of the most inspiring and promising entrepreneurs in Africa. She holds a Masters degree in Human Development Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.