A new you with illuminate

Hello there :) My name is Nicolas Fortun and i am a grade 10 student at Bishop Reding Secondary School, what school you attend and your grade. Today, I had the pleasure to attend the Illuminate National High School Leadership Conference with over 170 students globally!!! That's incredible. At first it seemed intimidating, but the national leads all seemed very friendly and made me feel welcomed. Here is my blog which strives to highlight what I learned about topics (executive thinking, collaboration, entrepreneurship and how to pick yourself up at your lowest points).

"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus"- Martin Luther King Jr

The day started with Iliana, a Managing Director at Excentra as our speaker. At first she had difficulty understanding the business leadership world, but quickly overcame this. The most important traits that she taught us of a leader is resiliency and flexibility. What speaker Iliana taught me is that the most important thing is to follow what you believe in and by doing that, you can do no wrong!

Then, we continued to proceed to our first workshop. Unfortunately, CPA speech did not happen due to personal issues. However, Aliana stepped up to the occasion and talked about her University experience. She hit a low point in her life but was able to persevere and get back on track. What she taught me was that even when all hopes seems lost, there is still hope and that you can do it!

We moved on to the second workshop pertaining the world of finances. I was taught how money today would be worth than money in the future. I learned leadership skills and how to to learn what is worth spending and what is not, along with the value of stocks and if it is right to buy them in your predicament. The world is changing and we must as well change for the better.

Then, the third and final workshop we participated in was the Deloitte keynote speech with speaker Carmen Wade. She taught us 6 very important lesson regarding leadership and business and the career she's in. These lessons were very helpful and gave me encouragement for the future.

I consider myself an entrepreneur because of my motivation and my need to be above and beyond, taking risks. If I had $5 to start a business, I would create an app/website to help people during the COVID pandemic.

I am very passionate about the new skills in finances I have learned and advice I would give is that never stop trying. When you hut rock bottom, theres is really anywhere to go but up :)