My experience of attending UNLEASH Innovation Lab as a Global Talent

A few months back, I documented my experience at Samagra, knowing it would be useful for some people. I did not realize how useful it would be for me – first because it helped me concretize my thoughts about my experience, and second because I saved considerable time re-reciting the same answers to the queries that came my way after I exited from Samagra. For precisely the same reasons, I am documenting my UNLEASH experience.

About me

I truly believe that my idea of myself (which may be different from how I am perceived by others and have limited control over) always intersects with how I perceive the environment around me. Thus, there are a few things that readers should know about me:

1. Professionally, I have over three years of work experience in the Indian social impact space. I have recently forayed into the international development space with my new job at data.org. Although, I am specifically focusing on the firm’s work in India

2. Academically, I have had a multi-disciplinary and multicultural experience at the Young India Fellowship (YIF) at Ashoka University. I got to learn a lot more about my country than I ever had. Most importantly, I built a community that continues to provide emotional and professional support. Incidentally, two of my supervisors after Samagra have been YIFs

3. Personally, while I always belonged to the top 10% of India’s income group, my family never had the means to support any international experience – leisure or otherwise

I was brought up and stayed around Delhi. From my preferences, anyone can tell that I am a North Indian: I love butter chicken more than any other cuisine, worship Shah Rukh Khan, and prefer mountains over beaches since they are closer to Delhi vis-à-vis the beaches.

About my perception of UNLEASH

The information about UNLEASH is available on its website. Briefly, you stay with 1,000 people at a campus, work on issues aligned to the sustainable development goals in teams of five using design thinking, get guidance from facilitators and industry experts, and pitch your solutions.

I understood that this would be a platform similar to the YIF but different in three key ways:

1. Significantly greater cultural diversity, with a global focus

2. Faster pace, with many things packed into a short week, versus the year that I had spent at the YIF

3. More self-directed trajectory since there is limited scope to learn from mistakes and no handholding

I decided that this was a chance to break out of my North Indian comfort bubble and explore the things that had thus far been unexplored – an international experience, a global community, and a fast-paced, self-directed program.

How I curated my UNLEASH experience

As I mentioned, I knew that the trajectory would be self-directed. Thus, I decided to plan it. I did this in a couple of ways:

1. I reconnected with my old YIF community in Bangalore, who kindly hosted me in the city. This was important for me to appreciate the value of a community truly.

2. I took my first solo trip to Coorg. This was important for me to flex my socializing muscle. I had to learn to make friends again, and I did.

3. I self-talked myself into prioritizing things that were important to me. From YIF, I knew that either the project or the social life, or the sleep would suffer in a fast-paced environment. I let go of the project and only did as much was required of me to do. I wanted to talk to people, sing songs, play games, and hug them. And I did.

It is intended that all my sentences have an “I + verb” framing. I ensured that things were not happening to me; I was doing them. This does not mean that I was always on track:

1. Sometimes, my Instagram addiction would overshadow my commitment to a good night's sleep

2. Sometimes, I would find myself gravitating towards people who looked familiar and spoke in familiar languages and accents rather than those who did not

3. Sometimes, I would struggle to let go of my biases in group discussions and embrace newer perspectives

However, I remained intentional about bouncing back and following my plans. Mostly, I did.

What now?

As I sit at home and document my experience:

1. I get updates from my new Vietnamese friend – whose name I still cannot correctly pronounce – about his day exploring Bangalore

2. I receive a text from a Liberian cohort mate – who I could not interact with – about how she can plan her extended stay in Delhi

3. I get a Google drive notification from my Mexican teammate, who lives in London, with all our photos uploaded

I expect many more UNLEASHers to visit Delhi in the coming two weeks, and I am excited to show them around. I experienced this earlier with YIF – a sense of community. And I am feeling it now.

At the YIF, I learned what happens after the YIF is equally important as what happens during the YIF. With UNLEASH, I know what will happen is much more important than what has already happened in one week. Communities grow and stay for a lifetime.

In my head, my UNLEASH experience is still not over. I am keen on breaking out of my comfort zone. I plan to do this while managing my job – by watching films from different cultures and languages. This does not come naturally to me. But I am excited to explore. Perhaps, this is what happens after such experiences – you learn to embrace the unfamiliar. And that feels liberating!