Lina: You entered the Technovation challenge in 2017, and won. What was it like? Can you tell us aboutyour experience? Has winning the challenge changed any of your plans?UniteYYC: The plan of alleviating food waste definitely did not change. The competition itself was a challenge, buteverything paid off. We have definitely seen some improvements, not only regarding the app, but also ourselves. Thewhole journey through Technovation and our ongoing journey with this project has helped us improve, gain knowl-edge, make new connections and relationships. After this, we WANT to bring awareness to the gender-gap in STEM.By developing and marketing the Leftovers app. It empowers and encourages us to promote girls who code, and aswell as encourage many minds alike that there is always an opportunity to see change in the world. Also, see whatpotential is out there. Our future plans with the app is to expand it to other Canadian cities, Provinces, and aroundthe world.Signing pitch cards Penultimate pitch 50 l Rhizome
Lina: What’s happened since Technovation? What has the last year has looked like. Lourdes said you are launching a crowdfunding campaign. UniteYYC: Technovation has opened many doors for us, from interviews, mentoring opportunities, award ceremonies, recognition from the school district, office spaces, to even promoting Leftovers and the app at a Lush store, and of course, the this great pleasure of having a magazine article written about us! The past year has been full of meet- ings, new development features, refining the app and the launch of our Indiegogo campaign which will promote our app even further. As for the overwhelming interviews, we had the opportunity to have an article written for Chic Geek, a non-profit that encourages women in technology and entrepreneurship, a news segment at NUTV which is the Uni- versity of Calgary’s campus based television station, and our Calgary catholic school district inviting us to a district celebration meeting. ( https://medium.com/the-chic-geek/team-unite-we-built-an-app-4eaf08716388 ) Lina: What’s that all about, how can people contribute etc UniteYYC: Since Technovation, we are still continuing to build a real life app. Our crowdfunding campaign is through Indiegogo, a concise look into our journey of developing the app. The platform shares our story of our solution to a global problem and it would mean the world to see how many people want to see change through us and believe in our potential. Through donations, it will allow us to see that and as well as contribute to the financial means of developing an app. With the excess donations, we want to share that and what better way is through Leftovers, to provide more opportunities of reducing food waste and possibly to other organizations as well. Lina: Anything else you want to add? Do you want people to support you? Do you have a specific demographic you want to target? Are you looking for exposure, investors or something else? UniteYYC: At the moment we want to bring at- tention to our Indiegogo campaign: https://www. indiegogo.com/projects/leftovers-app-let-s-res- cue-reroute-excess-food-local-environment#/ Supporters are greatly appreciated. Exposure will definitely get this project even more successful. Technovation 201751 l Rhizome
food/culture Why the CulturescapeMentality Holds You Back By Time Money Marketing Before I continue, I have to give What is the “Culturescape”? credit to Vishen Lakhiani — the It stems from the word “culture”, almost like the author of “The Code of the Ex- rules or as Vishen calls them — “Brules” — bulls*** rules that a group of people live by. Culturetraordinary Mind”. A book that has is different all across the world, but no mat- opened my eyes to some of the ter where you are there are certainly rules ormost interesting and eye-opening ideas specific to that area. Now I’m not saying all ideas are BS, but I am saying that not all of thoughts and ideas to date. them are true, and you don’t have to believe every one. The Culturescape is essentially the limiting be- liefs, or the ideas that are bulls*** but still hold true to this day in age. The first step to unlock- ing this, is by first questioning those Brules that you live by now, as well as future ideas.When we grow up, we are tend to be told things are the waythey are, and thats the end of it.Parents are unaware of the problems they cause by telling them they cannot do something, simply be-cause. There must be a why involved. I believe that in order for a child to fully understand a decision mak-ing process, and to have the skills to identify something as true or false based on their beliefs separatesthe great from the average. Parents are telling kids, “don’t do that” without explanation. Implanting thisidealogy that things are they way they are, and that’s just how it is…But the ideas and thoughts that are being shared today, are all up for your interpretation. You have theability to believe something, or not believe it. To help you understand what the Culturescape is, I havethought of a few examples, they might help you identify some Brule that you’re living by.•You must go to post-secondary to get a good paying job 52 l Rhizome•A wife and kids means your successful•Religion is not something I can change•You have to buy a house
Image by Kyle Coutts — @kcouttsy The Brules are different for everyone, but the basic ideas are the same. Rules that you are living by without questioning because they were imposed on you at a young age or you simply haven’t ques- tioned them yet. These things hold you back because you simply believe in them, whether or not you actually think they are true or not. Rather than simply believing something because someone else says it. Choose to examine each piece of information in an unbiased way, and pick and choose what you want to believe, you might uncover later that you don’t believe in those things, but you are still able to keep an open mind and make an unbiased choice based on your values. How can you identify a Brule, and “Transcend the Culturescape”? Before I give to much from the book away, I will just say that you should definitely check it out if this sounds interesting to you. But essentially what you want to do, is question everything. Ask yourself, why do I believe this? Is this something I believe to be true, or do I beleive it because of someone else? The Culturescape is something I only recently identified, but once I did. I was able to start unlocking different beliefs and ideas that I wanted to live by. And I learned that I can simply swap my inner and outer beliefs with new ones whenever I please. I think that once you understand the idea of Cultur- escape and Brules, you will be able to accomplish so much more. And your life will be at the hand of your interpretation, and willingness to try new things.53 l Rhizome
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