How one 16-year-old turned her passions into action

Happy Friday!

In case you’re new here, Prequel is the free, twice-weekly newsletter for parents who want their kids to succeed. We give you weekly insights on how your children can get ahead ― in school and in life.

For this week’s newsletter, I wanted to share with you Nila Ibrahimi’s story. Nila is a BETA Camp alumnus and an amazing women’s rights activist from Afghanistan who just spoke at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.

When we found out Nila would be speaking at the summit, one of our amazing BETA Camp program directors Salman Sohani asked to take vacation to go and support her. 

As a founder, we all hope to find team members that are mission aligned.

But my team is so beyond mission aligned — what a dream it is to work with people that care so much about the kids and families we serve.

When I was in the role of Program Director at BETA Camp, I told all the kids that they were like my little brothers and sisters — my little sister was in the inaugural cohort. Students describe our Program Directors and instructors as "friends older than me" instead of teachers.

And that's what we are as our students get older, build incredible businesses, and head off into the world — friends that are older and rooting for their success.

While Salman was in Geneva, he took some time to interview Nila, and there are so many great takeaways from their conversation. Let’s dive in.

P.S. We’d love to hear your feedback on this newsletter - once you’re done reading, feel free to reply to this email with any suggestions or comments.

💡How one 16-year-old turned her passions into action

At 16 years old, Nila Ibrahimi had already experienced more hardship than most people do in a lifetime. She recently spoke at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, sharing her story of escaping the Taliban and fleeing her home. In her speech, she also advocated for the rights of girls in Afghanistan, who are forbidden from going to secondary school, and of women, who have had all of their freedoms stripped away.

In spite of her hardships, however, Nila has only leaned into her passions further. “I feel this responsibility in me that I have to speak up for everyone who doesn’t have a voice, who doesn’t have that right to speak up,” says Nila. 

Given Nila’s passion for changing the world, it makes sense that she also fell in love with entrepreneurship: “Having a business feels like being your own boss,” she says. Entrepreneurship is the key to unlocking freedom for your kids to set their own rules, make their own way, and guide and lead others. 

Nila learned so much from starting her own business at BETA Camp and from taking on the challenge of advocating for the rights of others. 

Here are four things your kids can learn from her story:

How to help your kids move through fear to take action on their passions

1. Help your kids find a passion to fuel them

At every opportunity, Nila has made sure she’s used her platform to fight for the causes she believes in. “There are so many people who have large audiences who are silent about this,” she says. “I want to stand up and talk about this so that people who have the power and the influence can take action.”

Whether your child has a large platform or not, everyone can make a difference on issues they care about within their own circle of influence. 

How does your child want to change the world? How can they raise awareness for that issue among their friends, classmates, or community? What solution can they build as an entrepreneur to make the world a better place?

When your child sees that they have the power to make even a small impact, they’ll feel empowered to continue creating the change they wish to see in the world.

2. Help them believe in themselves

One of the biggest challenges Nila believes that kids face in both entrepreneurship and advocacy? Not believing in themselves.

Nila realized that she could do anything when she joined BETA Camp. She was meeting amazing people every week (in business, impact, technology, medicine, and beyond!) and feeling inspired — even though she’d come from a different background, she could see that there were opportunities waiting for her.

“BETA Camp opened doors for me. I’ve entered a world of so many smart people,” says Nila. “It changed my perspective and let me be myself and stand up for what I believe in. It helped me boost my confidence and follow my passion.”

3. Help them face rejection.

The answer will always be “no” if you’re too afraid to ask.

One of the most valuable workshops Nila experienced at BETA Camp was the rejection training. “I’m self-conscious of what I say and ask for, but when I had that training, I realized I shouldn’t take things so seriously,” she says. “You just have to ask for the opportunities you want. Yes, no, it doesn’t matter.”

4. Help them find a community — or create their own!

Nila says that the most valuable aspect of her time at BETA Camp was connecting to a community of likeminded individuals. 

When asked what advice she’d have for kids who’d gone through similar hardships, Nila says, “Many times, you’re going to think that you’ve experienced too much hardship for your age. You’re going to feel hopeless because you’re gonna think that no one is gonna understand you and you’re not the same as people your age, but there is hope.”

Nila was not only able to find her tribe at BETA Camp, but she was also able to create her own community for herself. Nila felt overwhelmed by culture shock upon her arrival in Canada — and one of the biggest changes was in how kids her age dressed. She had questions, but she didn’t want to be judged for them. So, she started a community called U-Drobe for Gen-Zers to talk about fashion and share their outfits. 

If your child can’t find the community they need, encourage them to create it! As Nila says, “You’ve just gotta present yourself to the world.” Otherwise, how will you ever find the people you’ll truly connect with?

⚡️ 2 Tutorials

1. How to teach creativity to your kids (3 fail-proof activities)(link)

2. 3 proven exercises to boost your child’s confidence (link)

🚀 3 Tools To Boost Your Family’s Productivity

1. Polyspeak — Learn a language with AI

2. Codefy.ai — AI-powered coding tools

3. ZBrain.ai — Build ChatGPT apps using your own data (health information, notes, etc.)

Thanks for reading!

Did you find this issue helpful? Let me know what you thought of today’s issue and what you’d like to see from us next time - just hit reply to this email.

Until next time,

Ivy
CEO Prequel, BETA Camp, Apollo
Follow my journey on LinkedIn