“Being the youngest participants at the World Economic Forum, we shared the limelight with many leaders in sessions and meetings. It was amazing to have unprecedented access to the business and political leaders in attendance, we had wide media coverage, added their ideas and insights to many of the sessions (with a total of 28 speaking roles) and were able to secure support for many of our projects. If there was one word to describe my Davos experience it would be SPECTACULAR!”
On her childhood and life plans – “I think I never seize to live out my childhood, but in relativistic terms I believe it was one void of the pressures of life. I always DREAM BIG, and my dream has always been to explore and discover for myself a path untaken. One that is challenged by many and pursued by few, and I think although this has never meant living on the edge, but more of a journey through the reality you wish to create for yourself. Being a catalyst in changing the world in real-time and becoming a Doctor are some of those childish dreams that I still carry with me. The 4 letter word that keeps the clock ticking; LIFE…It’s been a great journey, to making me the individual I am today. I have just accepted Admission with a Scholarship from McGill University for Biomedical Sciences, so I will be heading to Montreal this Fall”.
Practical advice to kick the butt?
There are cooler ways to die! Beat that!
About KTB and the team behind it that’s helped support it through its launch?
Amazing people are quite synonymous with their amazing work, and I think I can say this with the coolest task force – Team KTB that consists of Ilma Gaffoor, Imran Jameel, Tamara Fernando, Nishan Fernando, Hiruni Senaratne and Kiyara Fernando. The intellectual maturity and passion for a cause we believe in has really kept us going, regardless of the obstacles we meet on the way.
What inspired the project and how you hope to keep it alive?
It was after the ‘Just Peace Summit’ in 2008 that I was chosen to attend as a Global teen leader for my work in paediatric healthcare that I had to come up with a new project. I wanted to experiment on working on another segment of society, different to what I had worked on with in health camps, and so I was brainstorming and I thought why not focus on an issue that addresses people my age! People I can relate to and this was the inception of KTB - a project that uses the inclusiveness of the three types of Buttkickers outlined in the KTB philosophy i.e. teens who don’t smoke, teens who do, and teens who have and thus have a KTB story to share. So what keeps it alive is this type of nonaggressive positive change which is implied in the KTB concept. We are redefining cool!! Like I always say, the feedback and expertise of teen smokers in KTB plays a really significant role in the approach and design of our future endeavors, like KTB’s online pledging concept ‘Rent Your Lungs’ which will be on Facebook shortly.
Your favorite tee from the KTB campaign?
Currently, it’s the “I’d rather smooch than smoke” one. I think it has a sense ‘WOAH!’ when someone sees you wearing it. But you never know, my mind might change with KTB’s seasonal tee’s to come.
How you personally deal with peer pressure to consume alcohol or smoke?
I think it’s all in the mind, and there is indeed an element of individualism in the approach to this topic. Personally these two things have never seemed to attract me, so it’s really never become a question of whether to take it on. I think this is also because I don’t succumb to pressure and those around me know that I’ll just have all the fun in the world, by just being my usual self. I think I really agree with Tyra Banks when she always says in her show – ‘I don’t ‘need any substances for me to have fun, I’m just naturally high on life.’
During an age when hormones and attitudes overpower a teenager, how would you advice teenagers to find their inner voice and true calling in life? Without being influenced negatively by peer pressure?
Just don’t seize the opportunity to be yourself, DREAM OUT LOUD, chillax and most importantly follow your passion. Because there is one thing that neither people nor pressure can take away from you, and that is enjoying what you do, the rest just falls into place then. And well opposition in my mind, it’s the coolest form of flattery! It really tells you that people are actually listening.
The importance of good parental and peer influence in a teenagers life?
I think your surroundings and forces around you play a significant role in shaping you into the individual you are, and so tactful parenting and honest peer influence is something that a hormone- bubbling teen really needs. When you make that transition, it’s natural to want to feel wanted, appreciated and admired for the things you do and the stuff you believe in and parents and friends are those two groups of people who in their real sense ‘give more, and expect less’, so it’s great to have a good cocktail of ‘em!
Nuggets of advice you’d impart to other teenagers your age about life and attitudes?
Gravity will always bring you down, but it is YOUR acceleration against Gravity that will rise you up! So keep accelerating. (Way to go Physics! LOL)
Important values or lessons a child needs to learn to grow into a responsible human?
Never compromise principles for convenience, because life is just too fragile for it, and it can just bounce back at you. And remember that your actions always have consequences on those around you, so just follow your conscience and you never deviate from your true-line. And always remember those who have helped you climb your life ladder and supported you through the way.
What do you reckon the Sri Lankan Government should do to retain the best of its youthful talent being exported overseas? How can one try to retain or draw out the best of minds within the country?
This is a really interesting question, because I was a Discussion Leader at Davos this year, for a lunch on ‘Brain Drain to Brain Circulation’ with other experts in this field including the Head of the World Migration Institute and the Head of the 21st Century School at Oxford. And I think being the youngest speaker at the discussion, and since it was relating to my current age, it was really interesting to bring to the table the problems with brain drain in our part of the worlds and also the incentives Governments can give to seek and mobilize young talent back into our countries.
On a more broader scale, change in migration laws have really brought about great Brain Circulation to countries such as India, and I think Sri Lanka can look at such an option too. With regard to universities, the equation is pretty simple. If you want to attract people to stay then you have got to give them an incentive to do so, like I said earlier starting off with budgeting for and offering University education to a greater number. Another interesting point that came out from the discussion was of making the path to reintegrating with your country and job after an overseas degree made easier to attract more people to open their eyes to the option of coming back.
What have been the pillars of your success?
I think it’s the fact that I love challenges and failure just gives me a reason to stand up again and prove myself beyond reasonable doubt. Also, keeping in mind that what is important is the goal you want to reach and not the obstacles that lie in your way to achieving it, and so having my feet firmly on the ground and not being swayed by the winds of dismissal or opposition is what has kept me going.
Name five important people or things in your life? Why?
My phone & Facebook (my connection with the world around me)
My iTouch (the music that plays to the beats of my life)
Miss Dias’s Bio Classes (Best Bio Teacher on planet earth!)
My parents, bro and by besties
My grant aunt – Ferial Ashraff (best advisor)
Good habits one should try and always cultivate?
Honesty, Courage and Empathy.
A motto you always live life by?
“You should never take more than you give, in the Circle of Life” – Lion King
What’s your day like and is there room for a significant other?
I think with my usual day I need to invest in more than 24 hours to keep alive! Literally! But it’s all worth it at the end of the day, because from running with a sandwich in the morning to coming back home after a debating discussion, life never forgets to be interesting! I think although life is so random, it takes us to the right people at the right time, so it inevitably will!
What makes you truly happy? How would you advice teenagers to find this kind of happiness?
Just see the positive in every negative, because this becomes really contagious! And then just spread the virus around.
You would never…
Smoke
Drink
Wear pink lipstick!
Cry over flunking a test
NOT party like a Rockstar whenever I get the time to!
What makes you just a normal teenage girl?
I laugh, I cry, I chillax with my buddies and laugh to the lameness of their jokes, party, watch those cute romantic comedies over and over again and just do the insanely normal things that a girl my age does!
What are the qualities that you admire in another person?
Humility and fearless persistence to follow your true passion, even when the world is on the other side.
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