Celebrating the Cool Kids

Here’s to celebrating human capital as much as financial capital.

Join me in celebrating the people that help us see the world differently.

It’s what Let’s Venture is all about. 

Among those who have done this for me? Young, driven, educated women. 

These are a few of the scholars I’ve gotten to meet over the last two years through U-GO. Against economic and societal odds, they are kicking it in universities across their home countries in Asia.

Investing in their future is the world’s best investment.

Another to celebrate is journalist and extraordinary human Nicholas Kristof. Nick brings a lens to the world that you won’t otherwise see through the negative headlines.

I’ve never met him. I’m grateful for all he has taught me.

Finally, I celebrate John Wood and all of the outstanding leaders I have met through the global education orgs he’s founded, U-GO and Room to Read. 

A short article about John in my university alumni magazine 20 years ago started my whole support of girls’ education journey. I describe it as a “goosebump moment.” It propelled me into action. Since then, my joy is being a global connector linking and building with the worlds’s best global connectors.

You never know when a small moment will prove life changing. You know when you see individual things come together years later.

Like today.

Nick Kristof just published this amazing piece in today’s New York Times. “Lessons for America From Asia” focuses on education—specifically the young, driven women he has met over the years and on his recent visit with U-GO scholars in Vietnam.

I have so many favorite lines from the article. 

• What if the valedictorians in America’s schools were the cool kids?
• What if we respected human capital as much as financial capital?

Nick shares some inspiring stories and concludes:

“I admire U-Go, which provides scholarships of about $800 each so that brilliant low-income women in Asia and Africa can attend university.”

Reading what all of this meant to John was another goosebump moment. So I’m sharing the full message with you. He ends with:

“So much can feel out of our control these days. Supporting a young woman’s education is a concrete, hopeful, and powerful action we can do together today. Thank you for being on this journey with us. I hope you’ll read Nick’s piece and spread the hopeful message, ensuring we continue to make opportunity as universal as talent.”

If this leaves you inspired and want to know how to get involved with U-GO, contact me. Or make a 1:1 matched donation.

When you connect to what you care about, you find all kinds of creative ways to support it. For example, from the onset, I decided that proceeds from paid subscriptions to my Substack Let’s Venture | Jodi Morris go to U-GO. 

That just feels right.

Thanks for reading and subscribing. For thinking and doing differently. 

And for being one of the cool kids.

If we haven’t yet found each other on Substack, please subscribe to Let’s Venture | Jodi Morris. I’m all about learning and sharing. So nothing is behind a paywall. Because I believe in thinking and doing differently, proceeds from paid subscriptions go to U-GO.