While the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted young people’s access to education and employment as well as their mental wellbeing, the global crisis has also shown youth’s resilience and creativity in problem-solving.
We recently spoke with Cheryl Kong, who took Foundation for Shared Impact’s Impact Lab Course in the Spring 2020 semester, as an Event Management intern at GREEN Hospitality. Currently an Education Program Executive at CoCoon Foundation, Cheryl shared with us how her Impact Lab experience inspired her to seek an impact-driven career in empowering the next generation of young people, and how she has been able to apply the skills she learned from her internship in her current role.
Tell us about your Impact Lab experience, and why did you apply for your internship with GREEN Hospitality?
The main reason I applied for the internship was because of my concerns on sustainability issues. Owing to my study background in geography, I have a great attachment with the environment. After taking a few sustainability courses and environment-related internship, I have learned a lot about how human activities could contribute greatly to environmental problems. This helped me understand the indispensability of sustainable development. In particular, when the irreversible and devastating consequences of climate change are already happening, I just felt the urge to preserve our planet earth.
So I started to look at what I could do to change the situation. I take recyclable waste to credible recycling organizations. I stop buying clothing from fast-fashion stores. I always bring along my own utensils and lunchbox to avoid the use of disposable tableware, packaging, and cutlery. Nevertheless, I felt powerless when I realized how trivial my action was. No matter what attempts I tried, I could hardly change the habits of the people around me.
I started to wonder, “What could be done to have a bigger impact?” Rather than a mere reliance on individual effort, I think broad changes from corporations were also needed to lead the revolutionary trend. With corporations’ effort of launching sustainable initiatives, it would be more effective to encourage the public to practise sustainable living.
What drew me most to GREEN Hospitality was its mission of improving sustainable practices in the hospitality sector through initiating dialogues among all related industries. By promoting sustainable advancements in the industry, I believed it could impact not only the hospitality sector, but also further to other businesses or even gradually to the public.
That is why I got so excited when seeing such an internship opportunity that would allow me to get involved in projects to create a bigger impact, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with people who shared the same values as mine.
What were your roles and responsibilities at GREEN Hospitality?
I was an event management intern during my time at GREEN. During my internship, I assisted with organizing the GREEN Hospitality Conference 2020, an event that brought key stakeholders in all related industries that were of value to the hospitality sector to work together and bring about innovative, sustainable, cross-border advancements to the global hospitality industry. My responsibilities included communicating with speakers and guests, managing ticket sales, and researching potential venues. Given the COVID-19 outbreak, I helped explore the potential alternatives if doing the Conference in a physical format was not possible.
Apart from the Conference, I also assisted with the preparation for GREEN’s Think Tanks and Happy Hour Talks, where stakeholders were invited to share their thoughts and ideas on the challenges and solutions surrounding sustainability in the hospitality industry. At the end of the internship, I and my intern buddy also created a promotional video for our Hackathon.
What are the main learnings you gained from working at GREEN?
I would say that agility was one of the biggest takeaways. Given the pandemic situation, we had to explore different alternatives as contingency plans for the Conference. We had to contemplate whether we should postpone the event or change its format, and we had to evaluate the pros and cons of all the options.
In the past, I tended to focus on the negative aspects when the original plan could not be successfully carried out. But what I learned during my internship at GREEN was to focus not on what I cannot change but to put my effort into what I can change for the better instead. While running the Conference online might not be the most ideal option, what I could do was to research better online engagement tools and digital platforms for hosting conferences.
It was also an eye-opening experience to have met many people who are doing amazing work to pursue sustainability, particularly in the hospitality industry. I remember attending one of the Think Tanks with the topic of “Plastic: Replace, Reduce, or Recycle?”. It was such a rewarding experience to learn from different perspectives on how to develop a more sustainable ecosystem in the hospitality industry.
Are there any memorable experiences from this internship that you can share with us?
It was a pity that the whole internship was online, but I was grateful to have the opportunity to meet people from around the world. My supervisor, Lucia Loposova, also the Executive Director of GREEN Hospitality, was from Slovakia, and some of my team members were from France, Sweden, the UK, and Taiwan. It was an amazing experience to work with people from different cultures. In the past, I rarely had the chance to work in such a diverse cultural setting. The multicultural environment at GREEN allowed me to see things from more diverse points of view and ideas, and I could also see how working styles differ in different cultures.
After the internship, my supervisor, Lucia, initiated to have lunch with us at her rooftop, and me and the other intern friend brought along some dim sums and CNY food. What I wanted to illustrate is that, doing an internship is not merely about building a better CV and gaining more work experiences – you will often find bonuses that are not typically expected from an internship experience. In my case, I was able to expand my professional network as well as find a mentor in Lucia. As it was my final year during my internship at GREEN, I often consulted Lucia for career advice, and this has validated my passion to work in impact-driven projects after graduation.
We understand that you are currently an Education Program Executive at CoCoon Foundation. Tell us about what you do, and how do you think your Impact Lab experience has influenced your career plan?
My work focuses on entrepreneurship education. We believe that entrepreneurial spirit is not merely for entrepreneurs, but the mindsets and skillsets of entrepreneurs are important life skills that help youngsters navigate their pathways in this fast-changing society.
After working at GREEN, I realized that I wanted to have a career that can make an impact on society. I do not want to work every day from nine to five just for a considerable amount of pay. What I value more is whether I can translate my passion to good influences on others. Having a sense of purpose is crucial to me as it motivates me to work every day when I am doing something I believe that can make a change.
During the internship at GREEN, I had also made amazing connections with like-minded people that are also supportive of youth empowerment. I am glad I can reconnect with them again in my current job and gain their support towards other impact projects.
As an event management intern at GREEN, I have gained experience in how to roll out events systematically, especially when It comes to online events. These experiences are really helpful for my current job as it involves lots of planning for students’ activities, and I am now able to be more adaptable in moving face-to-face events to online.
Another indispensable skill I have learned in my internship is how to communicate in a professional manner. One of the first things I learned from the internship was to think ahead and offer solutions to problems when I communicate with my team. It is okay to consult others’ advice when I discovered problems, but Lucia would encourage the team to find solutions in advance and then ask for suggestions. This is a very useful skill and I think it does not merely apply to communication with co-workers but also to external communication. My current job involves a lot of liaisons with external parties. Especially in the pandemic time, challenges and changes are almost inevitable. It is important to let external partners know that my team always has contingency plans and solutions despite the uncertainties.
How important, do you think, is youth empowerment in driving sustainable development?
I think youth empowerment contributes a lot in driving sustainable development. One of the major focuses of my current job is to empower students and let them know they have the ability to make positive change. Empowering young people also means encouraging them to practise innovation that ultimately solves societal problems they are passionate about.
How, do you think, Impact Lab and GREEN Hospitality empower youth?
By providing internship opportunities to youth at social ventures, Impact Lab and GREEN enable young people to gain a deeper understanding of global issues such as climate change, human trafficking, educational problems, etc. Through hands-on experiences, they will gradually be empowered with the power and ability to make changes.
During my internship at GREEN, I created a video about the costs of travelling. When researching for the storyboard, I discovered this shocking fact: if we stack up all the hotel amenity bottles consumed by travellers on a single day, its height would be equivalent to 3,657 IFC Towers! Research like this helped me understand how a trivial action can contribute a devastating impact on the world. Even though I felt a little powerless at that moment, I was empowered when I learned there were companies and people out there trying to alleviate the situation and fight for planet Earth. An individual’s effort might seem ineffectual, but knowing that I can join in some bigger impact projects definitely encourages me to continue contributing to what I believe in.
Your advice to future Impact Lab students?
Do not be afraid of making mistakes. In my first few internships during my university life, I was so nervous about not being able to do the “right thing”. Whenever my supervisor assigned me a task, I would tend to do exactly what s/he asked me to deliver. I seldom asked myself, “What if I do it another way?” or “What if I try another method?”
At GREEN, even though I had assigned tasks, Lucia gave me the autonomy to think about how I wanted to do them. At first I got a little nervous as I was unsure if I was doing the right thing, but through constant communication with Lucia, I felt empowered to think outside the box and find out more possibilities. Of course I did make mistakes, but what I am grateful for is that I gradually overcame the fear of it and came to see it as an opportunity to grow and learn. No company expects a perfect intern. It is always about your attitude and how you communicate after making mistakes.
What would you say to impact-driven youth who would like to start their own project or organization to make the world a better place?
Do not underestimate your effort to make a change. Sometimes we do feel powerless in changing a seemingly insurmountable problem. But if everyone thinks in that way, no one is going to do anything to make a change. If you observe a problem that you feel the urge and passion to solve, then go for it, try it out, and learn from experiences. If you do not have the confidence to kick-start your own project right now, you can consider joining a company that is doing relevant work, where you can build your connections and gain experiences.
