I thought since this is my first post on this blog and I’m new to the Bright New Ideas organization that it would be a good idea to do a little introduction on my background and why I want to work for Bright New Ideas.

I graduated in 2006 from the University of Minnesota with degrees in Political Science and Communication Studies. Immediately after graduating, I worked for the Minnesota DFL Party as a researcher on the Senate Race, but didn’t feel like the position was a great fit for me. Afterwards, I traveled through India for three months and came back to produce a radio program called Considering Faith on Air America Radio in Minnesota. I have also volunteered on a local blog called The Uptake.

Recently, I came across a short documentary on YouTube about a group of African-American teens going to Nicaragua to live for a few weeks and I think it does a good job showing the culture shock of traveling to another country. The interesting thing about the documentary is that none of these kids were very wealthy in the US, but the disparity between life in the US and life in Nicaragua is very stark. I’ve never been to Nicaragua, but I’ve traveled through Southern Africa before and seen a lot of poverty in the area first hand and have had similar reactions to some of the students in this video. Here are part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, and part 6.

Tackling poverty is why I have gotten involved with Bright New Ideas. As I see it, this isn’t an organization solely about bringing lighting to an impoverished community, it’s about what the light represents. It represents opportunity to save money that they would usually spend on fuel for their lanterns. It represents the hope of children being able to study at night for school so they can get a good job. To me, this isn’t an organization about light, it’s an organization dedicated to defeating poverty in the world one step at a time.

I look forward to blogging with Bright New Ideas in the coming days! I hope you all stay tuned!