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Inspiring youth in STEM with Vaishnavi Jaiswal image

Inspiring youth in STEM with Vaishnavi Jaiswal

S2 E10 · GenZers to rise!
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125 Plays3 years ago

Today we talk with Vaishnavi Jaiswal about the Salubrious Org that aims to empower, educate & inspire youth in STEM,  especially minorities trying in an aspect of tech leadership & social entrepreneurship.

Vaishnavi Jaiswal social media: https://lnkfi.re/vaishnavi-jaiswal

Follow ChangemakerZ at https://go.changemakerz.org/follow

Episode's page: https://podcast.changemakerz.org/vaishnavi-jaiswal

Produced by Vasilis Skarleas

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Transcript

Introduction to Changemaker-Z

00:00:01
Speaker
Hello everyone, I'm Kennedy. And I'm Vassilis.

Meet Vaishnavi Javel and Salubris

00:00:05
Speaker
We run Changemaker-Z, a student-run initiative that aims to empower, educate, and connect Gen Zers interested in entrepreneurship. We interview teenagers with impactful projects and create resources to help you change the world. If they can't do it, so can you.
00:00:23
Speaker
On this podcast, we discuss the logistics of creating different types of projects with Gen Zers who have already done it. We will leave our social media and website information in the description.
00:00:45
Speaker
Welcome to another great episode of Genesis Rise. Today's guest is a rising genius junior from India and the founder and executive director of Salubra's organization, a youth-led nonprofit organization that aims to empower, educate and inspire youth in STEM, especially minorities trying in an aspect of tech leadership and social entrepreneurship. Please welcome Vasnavi Javel.

Inspiration Behind Salubris

00:01:11
Speaker
Hi, my name is Vaishnavi. I am 15 years old from India and a rising high school junior. And I started Solubus organization when I was 14. Since then, we have reached over 45 countries and impacted 5,000 youth and helped them gain access to STEM, entrepreneurship methods and empower them
00:01:40
Speaker
in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. When did you start the Solubreos organization? So I started Solubreos when I was 14. I was a freshman in high school.
00:01:55
Speaker
So it all started when I really based these minorities in tech. So I always have this role model who is an astronaut. She is Kaltna Chawla. And I always thought that all I want to do is to become an astronaut.
00:02:16
Speaker
but when I really got into coding I realized that I have no one to look after in coding and that's why I've just like pre-azumed in my mind that all I can do is ask to know me and that's when I really clicked in my mind that I'm not made for tech because I don't have any role model any female role model to look after and then I started interviewing women in STEM
00:02:39
Speaker
and I remember one of those interviews which deeply impacted me as a person about how the women faced workplace harassment and she was not given the opportunity to speak because she was only reason was that she was a female in that whole male-dominated field and then it really clicked my mind to start to you know just not wait because I'm young
00:03:01
Speaker
and though I phrase like sexism and ageism when I move forward but I didn't stop by then and that's how it really began as a newsletter and a blog and now we are hosting workshops and conferences that is amazing like this stuff
00:03:20
Speaker
that you have accomplished at age 15 is just incredible.

Promoting Diversity in STEM

00:03:24
Speaker
And I love that you talked kind of touched on ageism, because it's like just because you're young doesn't mean you can't do amazing things. And I kind of wanted you kind of
00:03:35
Speaker
Yeah, I kind of wanted to touch on, touch on these kind of answered this, but, you know, your page mostly features women. And, you know, why is it important for you to highlight women in STEM? I know you kind of talked about you need a role model and stuff like that. So what I observed, like, being in tech was that in an area where tech is so accessible, like, where STEM is so accessible,
00:04:02
Speaker
We are seeing this really enormous disparities in who is really accessing those opportunities.
00:04:10
Speaker
Like I'm observing that how online, so what I really observed like back then when it was like kind of inspiration to me that drew me forward to start Solubus was the thing that, you know, I noticed some online coding academies and camps would always use boys, you know, as Indian advertisements showing that how they can be the future Mark Zuckerberg or the future Bill Gates.
00:04:34
Speaker
and not really empowering the whole, the all sexualities or the all genders. And that I think was really a big key motivation for me that drew me forward to start Solar Press. And then after that, we really focused on youth from low socioeconomic backgrounds and youth from different races.
00:05:00
Speaker
but it really started from women in STEM. So yeah. Now that's so amazing and so important too. I don't know about you Vasilis, but this is something I need to look up before

Growth of Salubris

00:05:12
Speaker
our meeting today. What does Salubris mean to you? Okay, so that's a wonderful question.
00:05:19
Speaker
solid breasts is when I started, honestly like when I started solid breasts and I had no idea like what I'm doing it was just like me sitting in my childhood bedroom with a laptop you know of cold mailing some
00:05:35
Speaker
women in STEM asking them for their story and publishing them on Instagram or on newsletter. And that was it. But when I started conducting those interviews and how much I got to know about their life or the background of whole this thing, this mentality that people have that in this male-dominated field, so
00:06:01
Speaker
Then I really expanded it as an organization. Firstly, it was just like me. I thought it will always be just me interviewing people and that's it. But then I started to expand within my community, within my school, within the clubs, and then it really grew.
00:06:21
Speaker
as a community organization and now like um since a month we are a registered non-profit organization so yeah i'm so excited to see like what future has for solid breast the main core mission of solid breast is to not just empower minorities in STEM but also you know teach them STEM in such a manner that you know that ties up tech leadership that ties up entrepreneurship these real world
00:06:51
Speaker
skills that youth might need to solve real world problems. So teach them STEM in more of a fun learning manner rather than a theoretical fashion. Yeah, so it's like STEM, but it's like, like a full, like full, fully versed. I can't think of the word for lack of words, like fully like rounded. Yeah. What am I saying? But, um, kind of like,
00:07:18
Speaker
an all-encompassing version of STEM, kind of make it more appealing to youth, but like, kind of make, give them skills that you can use in other aspects of your life too. That's what I'm getting from it.
00:07:28
Speaker
Yes, what we like to emphasize through our program is the idea of our STEM Accelerator where we teach STEM in an applicable fashion to amplify the notion that STEM is a force for social good in a variety of ways regardless of what your passion is. Like the perspective we take on STEM is that STEM has the ability to be applied to things that you really care about in a way that you care about that you create the change that you want to see.
00:07:56
Speaker
I love that because I feel like STEM can kind of be that whole world can be a bit intimidating to some people. So I love that you guys take that approach. Thank you so much. For just a long time, we're talking about STEM. But what is STEM? There are many people that don't know what STEM means.
00:08:18
Speaker
I think STEM, like if I take it as a personal perspective, STEM, so like for the dictionary point of view, STEM means science, technology, S stands for science, P for technology, E for engineering, and M for mathematics. It's like the four important things that you might need. It's like the basics of what you've taught in school. And I think that's exactly what we're working on.
00:08:47
Speaker
is that not just teaching the way STEM is.
00:08:52
Speaker
When we hear the what-stamp, you know, students are most likely to be to have, you know, the thrown faces and to show that no interest in that because that's like so much of theories and formulas and people don't really know how to apply that in real world. They just know like, okay, this formula can be used to solve this equation, but they don't really know how can this formula work in the real life.
00:09:18
Speaker
And I think that's what the narrative we want to take on STEM is that STEM is like a notion. It's a thing that we can use to solve global challenges. And it's not just global challenges, but we teach STEM in that fashion that it can be applied to maybe fashion, politics, entrepreneurship, and that's
00:09:44
Speaker
something like that's one of our core value is not to teach them in a theoretical fashion which which is why people you know have most phobias towards them yeah yes i'm one of them no it makes complete sense because like i'm someone who's more um like correct me if i'm wrong but is left brain the one that's more like creative or
00:10:09
Speaker
This is our right brain. The one that's more analytical. Whatever, I think it's the left brain. But I was someone who's more like left brain or whatever. I forgot which one is which. This is obviously showing that I'm left brain. So I was always like, stay away from STEM. I'm not too into the mathematics and all of that type of stuff. But I love entrepreneurship and stuff and creativity. So it's kind of interesting to hear that you can apply that to those things too.
00:10:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's totally applicable towards whichever field you are interested in. It can be as much as interdisciplinary as you want it to be. So that's the real fun nature of STEM which teachers at schools are hiding from us and just teaching the theoretical way.

Impact of Salubris

00:11:00
Speaker
Yeah, that's why.
00:11:03
Speaker
Okay, we have seen that Soluprius has impacted over 5,000 plus youth from 35 plus countries with its events and workshops. What kind of events and workshops have you hosted in the past?
00:11:14
Speaker
So most of our workshops are STEAM focused. So for example, we have coding workshops, we have one-on-one mentoring, we have STEM workshops such as, you know, how can you use Python in neuroscience or how can you use artificial intelligence to build fashion products.
00:11:38
Speaker
So it's like as interdisciplinary as it could be so that you know it's not something that you can only think of or it's just like you have to take a notebook and a pen and you have to note down each steps. It's more like visualized and it's more relatable for the attendees and it's like for example for our upcoming Tech Connect which is this October we are hosting this
00:12:07
Speaker
diverse groups for example the workshops which are mainly focused on technology and we have the tech panels the tech leaders panel and so it's yes really exciting and I'm so excited for it. Yeah that sounds so fun. Well have you developed any tips and tricks for getting more people to attend

Authenticity in Engagement

00:12:34
Speaker
your events?
00:12:35
Speaker
yeah so um yeah we i have like attended some marketing workshops for for that matter and like not in general like it's just all about but
00:12:49
Speaker
The things that I use like to attend to make people to get more people like connected with solid breakers or just in general attend our events is that I think what's most important is to be authentic be something that our workshops we always try to design a workshop in such a format that people can take something out of it so most generalized it's like
00:13:14
Speaker
the values we have at Solopres, it's like totally shown over our events and that's totally what we tell people why they should join us or why they should attend our events. That sounds amazing like I remember in lectures kind of it's just it's just more fun when you can actually engage and not just have to be like lectured the entire time.
00:13:38
Speaker
That's definitely something I'm interested in. So, um, all right. So now I need to know how I can get involved. Like if someone is interested to contribute or even to get involved with Salubris, how can we do this? Where can we find you?
00:13:54
Speaker
So you can easily get connected with Solid Press by either being in our events. I think the presence matters the most and why we hold these events, why we hold these workshops is to get connected with you so that we all come together to solve this
00:14:14
Speaker
this world problems with these special things that we have like we have STEM so that's how you can connect with our events also we have a chapter program going on as soon as we like we have impacted we have reached over 45 countries and now we also have started our chapter program which is that anyone any any young entrepreneur who wants to
00:14:41
Speaker
expand our mission in their city, in their local club, in their high school or in their, you know, simply say, their club or their community. They can do it by starting a soil-based chapter in their community and we've helped them provide them resources, we provide them, you know, the basic skills that they would need to lead a chapter and we provide them
00:15:08
Speaker
to all like real small issues. That's how you can connect with our chapters. So you can either join our events, you can join our chapter program, and you always feel free to like, if you always wanna have like some tips and tricks you wanna hear about, you can always feel free to DM me as well.

The Essence of Social Entrepreneurship

00:15:29
Speaker
All right guys, well you heard it. We're gonna post all their information in the description of this podcast. So definitely reach out if you're interested to start a new chapter, just reach out to them.
00:15:40
Speaker
Now, Vaishnavi, you are self-characterized as a social entrepreneur, innovator, and activist. What does a social entrepreneur mean to you? I love this question because I think social entrepreneurship is all about, you know, having
00:16:00
Speaker
the core values. For example, when I thought about solid breasts, I had this basic reasons why I started solid breasts when it was not even a non-profit. It was just like a newsletter. It was just like an Instagram page.
00:16:14
Speaker
So what really turned me as a social entrepreneur or what really turned Solubress as a non-profit was the missions, the vision we value. And I think being a social entrepreneur is about making real world impact, you know, building community or the values you follow, you know, you are really
00:16:40
Speaker
making some impact with the values. You are really impacting it. You are really taking an action on it. I think acting is the most important part of being a social entrepreneur. You have to be as creative as possible. But don't forget that you also have to be as realistic as possible. So it's like a balance between both of these things. And social entrepreneurship is all about
00:17:08
Speaker
Yeah, totally. So social entrepreneurship is all about connecting with people, you know, it's like a network you're forming. I also like, I think it's like a very popular saying, your network is your net worth, which is, which is so true. Like, even as a social entrepreneur, I realized, you know, how important, how powerful is networking is, you know, how you can like,
00:17:34
Speaker
Today I'm here in this podcast because of networking. Again, we get our sponsors through networking. So I think these are little things, little skills that gather up together and make you a good leader, a good social entrepreneur by following your mission and your values and staying true to it, staying authentic to it.
00:17:59
Speaker
Yes, and that is exactly what Change Makers and this podcast is all about, the connection, the making like actual difference, all of that. So that is amazing. You know, I kind of want to know like, what are your plans for the future? You know, where do you see Solabrisse going?

Future Vision for Salubris

00:18:19
Speaker
I see Solabrisse like in the New York Times future.
00:18:23
Speaker
Honestly, I love Solubress. I just love talking about Solubress as well. And I'm so connected with Solubress now. It's like one of my family members. So I see Solubress. We are all to the non-profit now. So I'm so excited to see what future has ahead of us. And I plan to grow Solubress in a way that
00:18:46
Speaker
Every youth of not just India where I am based or not just in a particular nation or a particular community, particular city, you know, I see every youth in this world. I know I'm taking a very large scale reference, but that's ultimately what Solubus wants to do.
00:19:08
Speaker
is that every youth never feels left out regardless of their sexuality, regardless of their ethnic background, regardless of their socio-economic background. I envision a world in which it doesn't matter what background you come from, you look like, and everyone's treated equally. I imagine engineers working together, sitting across from each other, and there's a diverse set of skills, a diverse set of backgrounds.
00:19:38
Speaker
You know, people from different social-economic levels, sexualities, ethnic backgrounds coming together to solve the problem that a society faces. And that's exactly where I want to leave Salybdis towards, to make sure that every youth is heard regardless of the background they come from. Well, I know you guys can do it.
00:20:02
Speaker
I cannot wait to see where Salubris grows. And again, guys, if this is interesting to you at all, make sure to check them out, okay? All right, well, it's time to say goodbye to Vashnavi. Another great episode has came to an end. We would like to thank Vashni for being with us today. We learned about what STEM is and some important events around this huge branch, like the Salubris Initiative. We hope that you guys liked this episode. Until next time, keep changing the world.
00:20:37
Speaker
Thank you guys for listening. We hope you enjoyed the conversation. We had such a great time. Make sure to leave us a review. If you want more Changemaker's content, you can follow us on Instagram, at JinsearsToRise, and on Facebook, at ChangemakerZ.