Blen Kusmu looked at what was missing in her life and found a reason to make community accessible
About the speaker
Blen Kusmu is a proud Eritrean and Canadian. These two identities allowed her to create positive and safe spaces where people can connect and express themselves. Kusmu gives others the opportunity to step outside their comfort zones and discover themselves in a new and uplifting way.
She holds a degree in Sociology and a certificate in Community Service-Learning, which sheds light on the positive impact service-tasks and structured-opportunities have on self discovery within individuals and communities alike.
As Founder of Soul Search Canada, Kusmu creates enabling spaces through various creative events and workshops aimed at inspiring others to gain knowledge of their own abilities, character and feelings. By empowering others in self-expression, Kusmu supports the growth of confidence in others and allows the community to shape a better future for themselves, perhaps even revealing a path in life they never knew existed.
Favorite quotes from this talk See all
Being comfortable is one of the worst things you can do for yourself because it's not until you're uncomfortable that you become comfortable with yourself.
Community doesn't start with finding people that you can share these experiences it. Community starts with finding yourself.
If one of us succeeds, then all of us succeed.
It's important to understand that while we're building our communities, we really have to do everything we can to support it.
I was trying to relate or to belong to a particular community and I wanted to share all these different things, but I didn't know exactly what it is I wanted to share. I didn't know who I was, I didn't know what my interests or goals were. It was extremely hard to connect with people because I didn't know what I wanted to connect with.
Photos from this talk See all
Hosted by
Edmonton Community Foundation
9910 103 St NW
Edmonton, Alberta Canada T5K 2V7
Date
Partners
Alberta Podcast Network
