Iluminate x Markham - The future of entrepreneurship

Hello everyone! My name is Aria Mirzad, and I am a Grade 11 student at Sinclair Secondary School. I had the opportunity to attend the regional conference of Illuminate x Markham. Here are my thoughts, highlighting the speakers' insightful lessons and thoughts on social entrepreneurship. The speakers discussed their personal journeys and the many encounters that led them to where they are now. We learned that these experiences would not have been possible without a certain mindset: taking chances, doing new stuff, never stop learning, and having fun.

Alina Huang opened up our eyes to a whole new world of entrepreneurship, she informed us on the importance of networking and about being passionate about your career. She inspired me to open up my eyes to new career choices by giving her insight. In addition, Christal Wang talked about the theory of change during the workshop, which is a vital method for planning and achieving impactful goals. I discovered that there are six key points to consider when discussing the theory of change: Problem, Impacts, Outcomes, Activities, Inputs, Outputs. Also, Mash Chowdhury unlocked a whole new world, cybersecurity. It was a fun and informative lesson. I learned what cyber security is, how it works and how to find a career in the field.

I am so fortunate to have been a participant of the Illuminate x Markham conference because I had such a great experience and learned so much. I'd like to thank all of the regional leaders and keynote speakers for organizing such an engaging and informative conference. I would love to be apart of the next conference!