I’m excited to be speaking at University of British Columbia’s student conference, The Briefing, tomorrow January 25, 2012. We’ll be sharing our story of EdGen, and the adventures and lessons learned from building a community that crowd funds for quality education all around the world.

In preparing to share my thoughts for The Briefing, I’ve been thinking a lot about what has attracted me to be a part of EdGen, and why a quality education is something that’s such a core part of my values. I realized a lot came down to my upbringing in a family with immigrants parents. My dad was a Chinese immigrant who took a risk, studied really hard, and came to Canada to get a university education with almost no money (just a small loan from his uncle). He was the only one out of all his siblings to go to university and that opportunity transformed his life and also mine. When he established himself as a dentist and opened his own dental office, he took his nephews in from Hong Kong to live at our home so they could be educated in Canada. It was like getting a new older brother every few years! Unfortunately, he didn’t have long to enjoy the quality of life that an education provides. He passed away from cancer when I was only 12.

When I read about amazing women like Irene, Claudette, Alice and Anita, it reminds me of my dad’s journey to Canada in search of a quality education, and how he took that knowledge to build something that was his own. Knowledge really is power, the power to shape your own life. I hope that my work with EdGen will live up to his legacy. It’s my way of paying it forward, transforming lives the way my dad did for his nephews.