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Episode Synopsis "Looking back on one month of The Gen (in writing & audio) by The Co-Founders"
Spring tends to bring up feelings of fresh starts and renewal, so as we say good-bye to the month of February and edge closer to the Spring, we’ve been doing a bit of reflecting on all the new and exciting things that are coming from The Gen and taking stock of all that’s been accomplished in, to be honest, a pretty short amount of time! So this week’s Sunday Spotlight is taking a bit of a break as the co-founders of The Gen take a moment to reflect on the past month since launch, show thanks to the community, and give a sneak peak on the exciting things to come…We’ve decided to explore a new vehicle this week to help convey our content, so if you’re not a reader, we’ve recorded a conversational version for your audio pleasures, just press play above :) Alright, let’s get started. So, how does it feel to have launched The Gen? Hansen - The Sunday that we officially made The Gen public, I won’t lie, was scary. But to have received all the feedback that we have received since “launch”, has been nothing short of touching and humbling. Teo - I can definitely echo that feeling of being a bit scared! It was a bit like when you’re about to go cliff jumping and feeling scared to jump off but you finally just...do it. And not think so much! I think a lot of people have an idea, research it, but a lot of those ideas end or drop off when it comes to launching. Putting yourself out there can be a really scary thing - you leave yourself vulnerable and exposed. Especially with the work we’re doing which feels so deeply personal and close to home. Hansen - Definitely! The privilege of being able to create an impactful and meaningful space that transcends cultures and allows for thought expansion for others like myself who feels in between societal compartments, I mean, I haven’t really been able to find the words to describe the feeling yet... Selfishly, connecting with others either through our roundtables, Sunday Spotlights, and via social media in general has been a huge source of personal mental support and validation during these times (how glad are you guys that I didn’t say “unprecedented” times).Teo - It feels a bit like being on an amusement park ride that doesn’t really have a clear end...exciting, exhilarating, and surprising. I can’t wait to see what’s around the corner each week! A lot of people have asked - what IS a roundtable? What do you guys talk about and what do people get out of it?Teo - This is a really good question. Even we have at times struggled to describe what our roundtables are - unless you’ve been in one! We’ve got it down to this description:* A roundtable session is a one meaningful hour-long discussion on a topic related to culture, identity, belonging (or something else!). Each group meets roughly once a month and members are all cross-cultural people, mainly people from immigrant backgrounds, third culture kids (TCKs), and life-long expats. We like to keep these groups pretty intimate so everyone gets a chance to contribute. It’s also a way to meet people from different backgrounds that have similar struggles but at the same time bring diverse perspectives. Like Hansen, I’ve found these roundtables to be a huge source of positive energy during some very dark days during the pandemic. We hope to soon get to all meet in-person and maybe even….*spoiler alert*....host an in-person retreat later in the year!What have YOU learnt from the roundtables about yourself and your cultural identity? Hansen - This is a good one… Probably the thing that stands out the most is the learning that I’m not alone and I haven’t been alone, we all just needed the strings to connect us all together. Also that my upbringing and background offered me so much potential that has up until this point, not been properly articulated. Thoughts Teo?Teo - The feeling of not being alone is huge for me too. It’s so cool that people from widely different backgrounds from our own can connect on so many different levels. My parents are immigrants and I’ve always felt really indebted to them for giving me a privileged upbringing that they didn’t have. I was surprised to hear that life-long expats have felt the same. The other big insight was to celebrate and feel empowered by our complex cultural identities, not to feel alone or feel like my identity is fragmented. What’s next for The Gen?Hansen - Wow SO MUCH. Our mission will always be to empower cross cultural individuals like ourselves, finding ways to connect, and creating space for perspectives. Therefore everything we have planned will aim to do all those things. I’m not sure if we can reveal too much yet as a lot of things are still work in progress…Teo - BUT what we can say is that we have a really interesting collaboration coming up in March this year, as well as a new medium to communicate with our audiences in the upcoming months… Hansen - We will also continue to expand our roundtable communities by potentially creating new chapters (hit us up if this is something you’re interested in) and having new people facilitate them. And of course, our Sunday Spotlights will continue (also hit us up if you want to write or have art to share). And we’re looking to connect participants from different roundtables to further networkTeo - We are still slowly learning and discovering ways to package everything together as we go, but we are filled with ideas and excited for the future. Huge thank you to everyone who has supported this project so far. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegen.substack.com
In God we trust