⭕️ An Old Man, His Wife and Their Horse

Hey there,

I am writing to you this week feeling a little anxious. Taking this unconventional path of building this community has so much uncertainty. One day, I feel like I am on top of the world and another day I overthink everything and start questioning whether I am making the right decisions.

On top of that, doing that all publicly increases the stakes even more and I am afraid of what people will think and are saying.

Whenever I feel like this, I am reminded of this parable one of our guests shared on our podcast last year. On today’s newsletter, I share it with you.

p.s: you may have noticed that the email came from a different email today. That is because a lot of our previous emails weren’t going through. Can you do me small favour and reply “Hi Ziyaan!” to avoid this.

What to Expect:

• Opportunities: UN SDG Awards, Google and more

• Deep Dive: A Story that will Stick with you

• Community: New Company, Taco Bell campaign and more

read time: 4 mins

This week’s newsletter is powered by d’Skills Dispatch - one of our clients. With them, we are building a weekly newsletter for students where we simplify the world of tech and AI, and how you can use it to start your own project be it art, nonprofit or business. I have a goal of reaching 3000 subscribers in a couple weeks (we’re currently at 1200) so definitely check them out here.

p.s: I get paid with every unique click on the link and that’s how I am able to support myself whilst building this community. Definitely consider checking out the above especially if you’re interested in starting your own project.

Opportunities This Week

In addition to these, here’s the living document of 50+ Youth Leadership Opportunities.

An Old Man, His Wife and Their Horse

Once upon a time, there was an old man, his wife, and their horse. They decided to travel to a nearby village. As they set out on their journey, the old man rode the horse while his wife walked beside them.

As they passed through the first village, the villagers exclaimed, "Look at that selfish old man! He rides the horse while his poor wife has to walk."

Feeling embarrassed and wanting to please the villagers, the old man decided to let his wife ride the horse while he walked.

In the next village, the villagers scoffed, "Look at that selfish woman! She rides the horse while her poor husband has to walk."

To avoid further criticism, the couple decided to both ride the horse together.

When they reached the third village, the villagers were horrified. "Look at that poor horse! Carrying the weight of both the man and the woman. How cruel!"

Distressed by the continuous judgment, the couple decided to both walk alongside the horse.

As they arrived at the final village, the villagers laughed at them, saying, "How foolish! They have a horse, yet they are both walking."

By the end of their journey, the couple realized that no matter what they did, someone would always find fault with them.

When I started my first venture when I was 15, a lot of people used to make fun of me. I was young, worked in the women’s health space as a man and had crazy dreams.

Those same people now want to work with me. Same thing with Leaders of Today.

The lesson from the parable is that no matter what you do, people are always going to find a way to talk and criticise. You’re never going to find a way to satisfy everyone.

Next time you feel afraid of the judgement of others, remember this story.

Community Feature

I am experimenting a new section. I know most of us in the community (including you) is working on something or the other. Every week, I hope to use this section to feature people in our community that are working on something:

• Sam Demma launched his campaign for Taco Bell - tag them on his post here

• Nadia Ladak was recently featured on CBC - let’s show her some love.

• Oluwaseyi just launched her course on grantwriting - let’s support her here

• Joel dropped a 🔥 newsletter last week with a lot of good wisdom

• Our friends Sam, KB and Jack launched their new company Playgrnd Club and their building it all in public here

If you would like to have your work featured in this section, simply refer 3 people to join our community using the link at the end of the email (that’s a win-win for all of us).

My friend, I am so glad to be going on this roller coaster with you. Every day I am trying my best to experiment and add as much value to the community. There’s so much potential with Leaders of Today and sometimes I can’t properly sleep with all these ideas.

But I would love to hear from you. This community is what it is because of everyone that is part of it. I would love any feedback, ideas, thoughts or even what you are currently working on. I try my best to reply to each and every single email.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

With love,

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Let’s connect on Linkedin and Instagram

One of the goals of Leaders of Today is to ensure we democratise access to opportunities. But in order for us to do this, we all have to come together. Keeping this in mind, I would love for you to forward this with your network. Whether it’s your friends, classmates or colleagues. It would truly means the world.