Michael Hekmat is the co-founder of BLESSUS, a Polish fashion brand that bases its entire philosophy on the humble zipper. An innovative modular concept gives any BLESSUS design chameleonesque qualities. In just a moment, a BLESSUS outfit can become a glamorous red carpet dress, an impressive workday outfit or a confident and comfortable weekend piece.

Michael is a graduate of the prestigious Istituto Marangoni University in Milan, where he completed a degree in fashion design. He trained under the eye of the world’s top designers, including Vivienne Westwood in London, Proenza Schouler in New York and Giambattista Valli in Paris. He was included in the Italian edition of Vogue Talents twice. His fashions have been featured in Vogue Italia and Elle magazine, among others.

What are you working on right now?

I am coordinating the production process for our spring/summer collection, which is supposed to hit the stores at the end of February. Other than that, I am spending a lot of time at the gym lately. I clear my mind and develop physically.

Where did the idea for BLESSUS come from?

It came from the fast pace of our everyday lives and the necessity for compatible clothing. Many women have no time to change during the day, are hyper-busy and dynamic. Hence the humble zipper.

What does your typical day look like?

I wake up around 7:00 AM. I am brilliant at breakfast, so that’s when I sort out my personal stuff: email, Facebook, phone calls, online shopping, etc. I get to the studio by 10:00 AM and I brief my assistant, or actually, she briefs me. She’s a workaholic and is up at 5:00 AM. I love that about her. Fittings take up the majority of my day, especially during high season. We outsource our pattern makers and tailors, so I go from one studio to another. Production items, catwalk pieces and made-to-measure garments are all done in different places. I get to have lunch with my business partner almost every day; we discuss sales and PR. Afternoons are all about administration and organization; I handle textile delivery, choose trimming and prepare production charts and paper patterns. My assistant Magda schedules all client meetings for the afternoon. I try to leave the studio around 7:00 PM, hit the gym for an hour, have dinner with my boyfriend and then do something creative afterwards. It’s either fashion research or sketches. I doze off around midnight.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I am just very stubborn. I draw and draw until I like what I see. Then I spend hours with pattern makers and tailors discussing each hem line, each sleeve shape and almost each stitch of the piece I have in mind. I choose fabrics and colors together with the rest of the design team. It takes about 5 days for a piece to be developed from my sketch to a sample size prototype.

What’s one trend that really excites you?

I am lured by shades of gold and silver, which I am now bringing into the autumn winter 2012/13 collection.  I am also absolutely in love with exceptional fur texture, so I used a lot of llama fur in our winter outerwear.

Other than that, Chanel’s Hindu inspired collection is a trend I would soak in this summer.

What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?

I don’t consider any job good or bad. It’s all about my attitude, really. The job I consider the most fruitful was probably my 3-month internship at Hugo Boss’ production office. I was 18 years old and had no clue how to handle a sewing machine. I spent the entire summer before my fashion course at Istituto Marangoni in Milan learning how to sew, constructing and producing an actual high-end garment. It was my first fashion experience. It was exhausting; I was impatient, lacking any experience and because of my age, was stupidly stubborn. I learned how much it takes to work in fashion and how one has to devote himself entirely in order to be successful. Also, I figured out it’s not a 9 to 5 job. That first internship made me more thick skinned, which helped me get jobs at various fashion houses in London, New York and Paris.

The habitat of a fashion house isn’t exactly pleasant, but getting things done the way you dreamed is hyper-satisfying.

If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

I would have hired people more consciously so that I would have been able to trust their work and skills more. Then of course, I am the sort of person who is never entirely happy with his work, so I would change everything in each collection I have ever produced. ;)

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

I constantly strive for perfection and balance, both in business and in my personal life.

Actually, my research never stops. Never stop researching; in my opinion, that’s a good piece of advice.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

A cell phone battery that lasts a lifetime would be a great thing.

Tell us a secret.

I am very domestic. I absolutely adore cooking, cleaning and organizing. Those are my fav0rite free time activities.

What are your three favorite online tools and what do you love about them?

• Facebook for communication and gossip.
• Style.com’s fashion show details slide show for research.
• Booking.com because I love to travel. I could sooooo live in a hotel.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

The Beautiful Fall: Fashion, Genius and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris by Alicia Drake.

What’s on your playlist?

Glass Candy, Hercules and Love Affair, all the fashion soundtracks really. Other than that, everything composed by Michael Nymann and Max Richter.

If you weren’t working on BLESSUS, what would you be doing?

As for now, I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. If I ever quit BLESSUS, I’d probably go organic, start living in the countryside by myself and be surrounded by nature.

Three people we should follow on Twitter and why?

• Anna dello Russo: because she’s out of this world.
• Daphne Guiness: because she takes fashion to a higher level.
• Grace Coddington: of Vogue US;  mind her age, she is always up-to-date.

When was the last time you laughed out loud? What caused it?

My boyfriend makes me laugh a lot; especially when he imitates fashionistas, which happens almost every other day.

Who is your hero?

My mother on some level. But that’s too personal to explain. My assistant because she deals with me on a daily basis and still manages to keep up with her own life. Well, sort of.

What is the inspiration behind the collection?

That’s the question I hate the most. I can’t define the inspiration. We create mood boards at the studio with the whole design team, so I think that the inspiration is a constant process, always in motion and always developing. Once the garments are ready, there’s so much behind them, I can’t decide what I referred to the most.

Do you spend a lot of time in front of the mirror?

Yes, actually I do. Looks are important. I am not vain, but that’s the reality of the fashion world. No one cares about inner beauty and everyone denies it. So why not be frank?

Connect:

Michael Hekmat Email: mh@blessus.pl
BLESSUS Website: http://www.blessus.pl/
BLESSUS on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/blessusPL

Alex Gourley is an entrepreneur and technical generalist. Before founding BitGym, he ran Loopt’s internal metrics and analytics, worked on a source-code search engine at Krugle and led a team that was building an autonomous vehicle at UC Davis.

What are you working on right now?

We’re trying to make cardiovascular exercise machines more tolerable, or even fun, by giving people games to play and worlds to explore while they exercise. We’ve developed a new technology that allows a simple iPad or iPhone resting on your cardio machine to know how fast you’re working out (using vibrations) and the position of your body (using the front-facing camera). You can interact with our games and apps running on your iPad or iPhone using just your exercise motion and body position. This collection of apps is called BitGym.

Where did the idea for BitGym come from?

After I moved to San Francisco in 2009, I lost access to my regular ultimate frisbee pickup game and started going to a gym instead. Running on a treadmill was maddening and I kept thinking that I wished I was playing a game. Of course that idea is nothing new – there are patents on cardio machine video game interfaces going back more than 30 years. The real leap for us was realizing that we could pull it off without any special hardware at all.

We had been trying to build special iPhone hardware for nearly a year, but after a brainstorming session with a new co-founder, we realized we could probably do everything with software alone. A week later we had a working prototype and we haven’t looked back since.

What does your typical day look like?

Clint, Josh and I get into the office around 10:00 AM each morning. Our corner of the Mission District in San Francisco isn’t the nicest, but the rent is cheap and the view from the fifth floor wall-to-wall windows is really inspiring for creative work. Josh generally works on the motion and head tracking code, Clint works on the website or latest app and I jump around taking care of the boring bits like fundraising, marketing, customer support, business development, product specs and moving Josh’s work into our production Objective-C SDK. We work until 7:00 or 8:00 PM, head to our respective homes and then usually work for a few more hours. When we have a release deadline, it’s common to be up working until 3:00 AM, but otherwise we try to keep healthy sleep schedules.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I think best by talking to other people, but if that isn’t an option I sit down with a pen and a notebook. From there, I try to follow a 3-step process: 1) define the design goals, 2) brainstorm and write down all possible ideas even if they seem stupid and 3) realistically cut down the list until a plan emerges.

What’s one trend that really excites you?

Autonomous cars. The technology has a ways to go–and the policy even further. When it arrives, society will witness a radical transformation for the better.

What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?

I did in-home computer repair. Most people shouldn’t have to go through the stress of maintaining a PC. The sooner the average person can just have a thin-client like a Chromebook, the better.

If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

I’d skip the hardware exploration and get a year of my life back. I’d internalize lean startup thinking earlier and more profoundly.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

I try to do everything creative or technical myself the first time. How else could I know if I should hire someone a second time, how to manage  him/her or how long it will take someone to complete a project?

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Find a way to recycle all the “old” smartphones that are already starting to leave the consumer cycle. Just pulling out the parts probably isn’t the optimal solution, but what if they could be refurbished, turned into IP security cameras, mesh sensor network nodes, robot brains, sprinkler control systems, etc.?

Tell us a secret.

I hate exercise and don’t get enough of it. Ironically, BitGym is my excuse for not having time for it. My goal is to build a game so sticky and engaging that it gets me into exercise again. It’s a high standard but we have to get there if we expect to really make a difference in people’s behaviors.

What are your three favorite online tools and what do you love about them?

• Dropbox: It just works
• Gmail: Fast email search changes everything
• Asana: A free project management tool

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries.

What’s on your playlist?

Dive by Tycho.

If you weren’t working on BitGym, what would you be doing?

I would be solving some other problem the best way I know how: via a tech startup.

Three people we should follow on Twitter and why?

• @josephflaherty:  Great insights on the third printing revolution, the evolving world of retail and the DIY/maker movement.
• @DemetriMartin: Daily levity.
• @RockHealth: You can track the revolution in health tech from a single Twitter account.

When was the last time you laughed out loud? What caused it?

Probably something on reddit.

Who is your hero?

I never thought having a hero was a good idea. You should respect people who deserve it, but by making someone a hero, you’ll try to copy him/her and that will only lead to cargo-cult behavior.

Connect:

Alex Gourley Email: alex@bitgym.com
Alex Gourley on Twitter: @acgourley
BitGym on Twitter: @bitgym

John Hall is the CEO of Digital Talent Agents (DTA), a personal branding company that imagines and facilitates online publishing opportunities for niche experts by utilizing relationships with over 3,000 online publications. A true entrepreneur from the start, John purchased his first investment property at the age of 20, which he has expanded into a successful housing business. He worked for a prominent real estate development and financing company before going on to participate in deals with J.P. Morgan and GE Capital in a variety of different capacities; including development, equity investments, marketing and management. John has developed an expertise in personal branding, which includes digital public relations and social media marketing.

What are you working on right now?

I am currently running Digital Talent Agents, a company that helps people who are trying to develop more credibility and authority in the market place. Really, anyone who is looking to draw people to his or her personal brand or a company brand can benefit from the work we do at DTA.  Our niche is getting clients published in reputable online publications.

Where did the idea for Digital Talent Agents come from?

I worked in the real estate industry for 6 years with big names like General Electric, J.P. Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway. I noticed that hidden inside these corporations were many brilliant thinkers and experts that nobody knew about. This got me thinking about how one becomes known as an expert. Usually this is done through some sort of media outlet.  From there, I examined where the future of media outlets is heading: online publications and not print.  People are reading on tablets and not opening the paper anymore. Hence, Digital Talent Agents was created as an innovative solution to help industry experts become known and respected in their niches.

What does your typical day look like?

Usually I get into work and catch-up on emails for the first couple hours. I browse entrepreneur and social media publications and catch up on industry news. Then I meet with each team leader to discuss strategies.  After that, I usually have calls scheduled with potential partners, publications or clients.

How do you bring ideas to life?

Whenever I think of something, I always include actionable steps with which to implement that idea.  Anybody can be an idea person, but actually making it happen is the challenge.  When I think of an idea and determine the steps to implement, I know exactly what I have to do to get it done. It makes the ideas possible.

What’s one trend that really excites you?

That’s got to be social media. Yes, social media has been around for a while, but the time has come when we’re seeing concrete business strategies built around utilizing it. We now have a deeper understanding of how to leverage online relationships and to measure success. As more and more companies realize the influence that social media can have, we’re seeing entire businesses change their marketing strategies and even their marketing objectives.

What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?

Blockbuster. Definitely. I hated going into work every day and it made me realize that I needed to find what I loved. I started in real estate and then at Digital Talent Agents. DTA doesn’t even feel like a job. I genuinely enjoy what I do, and I guess I have Blockbuster to thank for pushing me to find it.

If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

Invest in Apple and drink margaritas on the beach all day. I wish. I would probably focus on building a strong team before doing anything else.  Ideas come and go, but if you get a solid team together, that’s where the success is. I read some statistic the other day that approximately 95% of the success of a startup is in the effectiveness of the first 5 employees.  Wherever I read it, I believe it.  Before going crazy working on ideas, I would concentrate on networking with people who could be great team members.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and would recommend everyone else do?

Step out of your business every couple weeks and separate yourself from anything operations related. Go somewhere where you can relax and focus. Think strategically about the direction of your company and what can be better.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Some people are implementers and some people are idea generators.  I was thinking of how it would be great to have a site that connected these types of people.  On the implementation side, it would be good to have background about how an individual has successfully launched an idea. I definitely see value in connecting these 2 types of people.

Tell us a secret.

I spelled my middle name wrong until I was 16.  It’s Michael, by the way… not exactly a brain buster.

What are your three favorite online tools and what do you love about them?

• Compete.com: although the data is not exact, it gives you a good reference point when deciding reputable and popular sites to check out.
• Of course, all social media sites. I think networking is vital in the professional world, especially for entrepreneurs.
• Who Tweeted Me. I tweet with a lot of fellow entrepreneurs, business-minded professionals and publications like Young Entrepreneur and Under 30 CEO. I love that my Twitter network provides me with insights and feedback on ideas and articles. This is what social media is all about.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

To be honest, I wouldn’t offer a book recommendation. I have stopped reading books and instead read a lot of online publications. The value that I get from skimming through Zite in one morning outweighs any book that I have ever read.  On Zite, I can read about 15 interviews from relevant leaders in the same time it takes to read a chapter in a book. The world is constantly changing and the way you keep up with the change is real-time knowledge.

What’s on your playlist?

Rascal Flatts, Dashboard, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and basically everything else.  I’m that guy that plays a list that everybody says, “why is Tupac following Gavin DeGraw?”

If you weren’t working on Digital Talent Agents what would you be doing?

I would be expanding my real estate business.  I loved everything about real estate, but when the idea for Digital Talent Agents came around, there was a new love of my life and I had to go with it.

Three people we should follow on Twitter and why?

• Me, of course.
• Jeff Bullas is a social media and content marketing genius. He constantly posts new blogs with tips and tools that anyone interested in marketing should know.
• Entrepreneur Magazine has a huge following, which can lead to great connections. Plus, all of its articles are posted in case you miss one.

When was the last time you laughed out loud? What caused it?

Recently, my wife and I were packing for a trip and we left our suitcases open on the floor. When we came back in the room, our dog, who has been potty-trained for about 3 years, pooped in my suitcase.  I’ve never received such a clear message of screw you for going to the beach and leaving someone home.

Who is your hero?

I’ve got many: my dad and mom and friends and co-workers who have overcome terrible things that have happened to them.  Someone who would really stand out in the business world would be somebody who is successful but uses his or her success for good. Instead of always helping himself/herself, he/she would use success to help others.

What’s the definition of living a happy life?

A rich and happy life is achieving personal and professional success and then continuing to work because you enjoy it, not because you have to.

How do you balance your personal life and professional life?

I have a lovely wife at home, whom I need to make sure that I set aside time for.  It is a hard thing to do and difficult for a marriage when you also love your work.  The important thing to remember is to communicate and to set aside time for just us. We both love wine so we usually have wine nights in which we have a nice dinner and I don’t do any work. As for friends, I have 1 happy hour a week. It’s like medication for me and it helps me to blow off steam so I can work harder the next day.

Connect:

John Hall on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=15910336
John Hall on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/JohnHallCOMO
John Hall on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-hall/24/aa9/16a

Since the age of 4, Adora Svitak has been exploring what she can do with the written word: everything from championing literacy, the voices of the youth and education reform, to guest blogging for Mashable and the Huffington Post. Hoping to instill her love of learning in other children, she taught her first class at a local elementary school the year her first book, Flying Fingers, debuted; since then, she has spoken at hundreds of schools, classrooms and conferences around the world. She co-authored her second book, Dancing Fingers—a collection of poetry—with her older sister Adrianna in 2009.

At 12, she delivered the speech “What Adults Can Learn from Kids” at the prestigious TED conference. That video received over one million views and has been translated into more than 40 languages. Now 14, Adora’s list of accomplishments has broadened. She joined the ranks of President Bill Clinton and Sesame Workshop last year when she received one of public education’s highest honors, the NEA Foundation Award for Outstanding Service to Public Education. Adora is a staunch advocate for innovation in education—her latest project is bringing student voices to the international education discussion through “The Student Union” Facebook group and Twitter hashtag.

What are you working on right now?

I’m currently writing short stories and poetry, as well as working on some literary proposals for non-fiction books. I have several speeches in the months to come about topics ranging from the arts to technology to education. Three big causes I’ve been raising awareness about are student voice in education (with “The Student Union” group on Facebook, I’m hoping to really shine a spotlight on our school experiences and why educators need to involve us in education reform), fighting world hunger (in my work with the World Food Programme, I hope to get more and more youth helping others) and feminism–I’m one of 6 finalists in the Women’s Media Center’s “Girls’ State of the Union” contest, which I’m super excited about. (Kyra Sedgwick tweeting about my video was pretty awesome.)

Where did the idea to start writing come from?

From my brain! Well, in all seriousness: I had the idea to write my first book, Flying Fingers when I was 7 because I really wanted to see my stories get out there to a wider audience. In particular, there wasn’t much in the way of fiction for kids written by kids at the time. I think it helped that I had a naive lack of understanding about how hard it is to get published; as I talked about in my TED speech, naivete can actually be a good thing when it makes you think the seemingly impossible is possible. My TED speech was the launch of my “idea worth spreading”–what adults can learn from kids–on a global scale. My idea was heavily inspired by the TED 2010 theme of “What The World Needs Now.” I was originally thinking of something like “what kids need now,” but I decided that something more useful for the mainly adult audience would be why kids and our ideas are important and have value to them. Talking it over with Chris Anderson, the curator of TED, was immensely helpful, and voila! the idea was born.

What does your typical day look like?

I once posted on Facebook that I lead a Hannah Montana life–teaching by morning, in school by noon, speaking by night. That isn’t quite accurate chronologically, but it’s pretty close. I often teach a language arts class via video conferencing in the morning, then walk to school, come home and work on my online classes, write speeches and blogs, start initial planning for the conference coming up later in the year (TEDxRedmond), do homework, eat dinner and watch a bit of TV…it’s usually a pretty packed day.

How do you bring ideas to life?

Some people bring their ideas to life on a canvas or with a blueprint, an instrument or a test tube; my tools of the trade are the pen and the microphone. When I get an idea, it’s usually in the form of a poem, a story, a blog post or a speech–so it’s pretty easy to bring an idea to life. However, I’m also never content with just speaking my mind; I want to see action as well, so I start conferences and write emails to raise awareness for causes I believe in.

What’s one trend that really excites you?

I’m super excited by the trend of open education resources (OERs), as seen with MIT’s OpenCourseWare and other programs. Right now, it’s mainly certain lectures offered for free from universities, but I look forward to the day when we have an international network of schools–elementary, middle, and high school–all streaming their courses for free around the world. On that same note, I’m super interested in the flipped classroom model (look it up–it’s really intriguing and I think it has some positive implications for education).

What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?

I haven’t had that many jobs in my life, but one of the worst would probably be cat-sitting for my aunt and uncle. Cats’ natural lovability notwithstanding, cleaning a litter box is never ever enjoyable. From this, I learned that: 1) people who do sewage/garbage/waste-related jobs really need the respect of humanity and serious pay raises and 2) if you try to take shortcuts and not do a thorough job, as I did with the cat litter, you will be found out; in the words of my uncle: “there’s moldy cat pee here. Someone didn’t scoop very thoroughly.” To summarize: always scoop the cat pee.

If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

Looking back, I think that I wouldn’t change a whole lot because I don’t know where I would be today if I changed little things along the way. Even our struggles and challenges make us who we are, so I’m glad for (okay, maybe not quite glad) every hair-tearing midnight speech-writing session when I decided to procrastinate way too much.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

I always look at things from an ethical standpoint. Too often I think we forget about the importance of ethics in how we deal with others and the way we go about doing business. When you have an important decision to make, is the first question you ask, “is this right?” or is it “how much money will we make?” “How many people will see this?” “How much time will I spend?” We seem to take for granted that people automatically do the right thing, but it’s not something we can get complacent about; we have to continually question the decisions we make in terms of ethics in order to avoid some of the pitfalls of letting money or power obscure our knowledge of right and wrong.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

I don’t really run a traditional business–I write books, articles and blogs, give speeches, teach and advocate for causes. I guess one idea I’ve picked up that I think many people could benefit from is that no “customer” is more or less “valuable” or “important” than another. They may not be my “customers” exactly, but I spend as much time writing an email to a fourth grader asking for writing advice as I do replying to a CEO. When people see that you respect them equally as people, not because of wealth or status or the size of their contract with you, they see how genuine you are.

Tell us a secret.

Then it wouldn’t be a secret!

Oh alright: I once took a really surreptitious camera phone picture of Lois Lowry, the author, when she was sitting across from me at a Wisconsin reading association event. I was pretty starstruck.

What are your three favorite online tools and what do you love about them?

• Urban Dictionary: this is a must-have for anyone who is a teenager or needs fast definitions for things you hear from teenagers (really anyone under a certain age). It includes definitions for such essential vocabulary as ROFLMAO, trollface, oh snap, etc. I love that if I fail to interpret something I hear/see on my Facebook news feed, I can just look it up.
• Facebook: I know, I know, it’s cliche, but where else can you find everything from news articles about serious topics to quizzes asking, “are you a cookie?” The variety is lovely.
• Tumblr: I’m just starting to explore it, but all the different functionalities are pretty awesome. I love that you can crowdsource with “Ask anything” and “Submit.” Plus, I’m a huge themes junkie so browsing all the different options in the theme garden makes me very happy.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

I have a vested interest in saying mine, but I’ll go with my heart and say The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Why should intelligent adults be reading a young adult fiction novel about a dystopian future where children are entered into televised games to fight to the death (sucky summary, by the way)? Because it’s an interesting book and it’ll put you in touch with my generation and what we’re all talking about. Plus, there’s a movie coming out and you should really read the book beforehand instead of getting your impression of the series from celebrity news magazines superficially gushing about the movie. You can tell I’m really into it.

What’s on your playlist?

Quite honestly, I don’t listen to that much music, but when I do, it’s usually an odd mishmash of my dad’s, my sister’s and my own tastes, so: the Beatles, the Who, Judy Collins, Lady Gaga (sister is a fan), Adele, Coldplay, Natalie Merchant and Jake Shimabukoro.

If you weren’t working on writing and supporting causes, what would you be doing?

If I weren’t working on writing and causes, I’d be reading, eating, playing board games, watching TV/movies, biking, hiking, hanging out with friends, shopping or traveling.

Three people we should follow on Twitter and why?

• @WFP The World Food Programme is technically not a person, but as the United Nations’ food aid organization, it has some of the most educational and interesting tweets out there.
• @AmbassadorRice: I know this is running sort of a UN theme, but see above for why–informative and interesting. Plus, I really think our ambassador to the UN deserves more followers than Lady Gaga (sorry, Little Monsters).
• @JohnSvita: okay, okay, it’s a little nepotism because he’s my dad, but: 1) he’s not an every-five-seconds tweeter (translation: almost never) so you don’t have to worry about tweets clogging up your feed, 2) he has a Ph.D. That should really count for something, and 3) he tweets about a wide variety of topics from education to coffee, so there’s something for everyone!

When was the last time you laughed out loud? What caused it?

This evening watching the comedic mockumentary series Parks and Recreation on NBC. I love that show. The last time I laughed really, really (embarrassingly) loudly was in my AP Art History class when a classmates presented on Dutch painter Hieronymous Bosch’s epic triptych “Garden of Earthly Delights,” accompanied by some commentary from another classmate. The innuendos in that painting…let’s just say, awkward fruit symbolism + high schoolers = absolutely uncontrollable laughter.

Who is your hero?

If I have to pick just one, Eleanor Roosevelt, because she was definitely an incredibly pioneering woman and first lady. Her work to help others, using her privilege for the sake of all, is admirable and inspiring. One of my first favorite nonfiction books was a biography of her, actually; I think that seeing how many struggles she had in her own life, from childhood onward, showed me that your challenges make you stronger.

What attracted you to do what you do instead of…say, robotics or just being a “normal teenager?”

I couldn’t program robots for my life, while on the other hand, writing is almost like breathing for me. I travel, speak, write, teach and advocate because I believe strongly in making the most of my ability and privilege no matter how old I am. Why limit myself by my birth date? The message I have for adults, wondering if they should tell their kids “wait until you’re older” when they want to pursue daring projects, would be: “letting kids be kids” means letting us be everything we can be.

What have you learned from your travels?

I’m extraordinarily lucky to have been able to travel to 11 countries and 27 states so far. My travels have taught me that letting go of wanting to plan everything (which I always want to do) can be okay and even more fun sometimes, that taxi drivers are some of the best conversationalists that you will meet and that your reaction to “oh, I got a very minor case of food poisoning as evidenced by my gastrointestinal distress” should not be “I hate -insert country here- and will never eat food again,” but rather “I’m going to have some humorous anecdotes to tell.” Adventure, talking and optimism. Now I just need to apply that learning in my non-travel life…

Connect:

Adora Svitak Website: www.adorasvitak.com
Adora Svitak on Twitter: www.twitter.com/adorasv
Adora Svitak on YouTube: www.youtube.com/adorasvitak
Adora Svitak in the News: www.huffingtonpost.com/adora-svitak/