The anthropologist, the entrepreneur, the designer, the writer. I am none of these, yet I find myself flirting with a curious cocktail of them all. I’ve helped to create The Hub, a multi-sited incubator for social innovation located in London, Bristol, Johannesburg and Sao Paulo. I co-authored a little book ‘Careers Un-Ltd’, that is published by FT Prentice Hall.
I’ve worked on social ventures with people ranging from The Cabinet Office, UNICEF, The Tate Modern, Barcelona City Council, community activists in Soweto, the Asian Heritage Foundation, Leeds City Council, and the London Development Agency. And I find myself thriving on collaborations with a multi-disciplinary team of architects, scientists, investors, technologists and activists.
In moments of ‘struggle’, I turn to the memories and stories of the people who’ve inspired me in far-flung places. Memories from an aid mission to Mostar during the war in Bosnia, the tear-gassed streets of Seattle during the WTO protests, an Indian village being submerged by the Namarda dam and life with the Dogon in the Mali desert.
Sometimes I spoil the fun of it all, by taking on too much and forgetting to sleep. But it doesn’t stop me aspiring after life as ‘play’. Play as an attitude, a spirit, a way of doing things. Play as thinking the unlikely and doing the unreasonable.
