Hey, what's up, everyone? This is David and I'm here with a Liska she is going to activate this year and she's been an innovate, you know last year and we wanted to do this podcast for you guys to give you some insight on what she wishes she knew before she started innovate. So Elizabeth tell us a little bit about yourself. Yeah, so I've been I'm super interested in a bunch of different Technologies, like blockchain artificial intelligence and just recently got really deep into nanotechnology. And so I think one of the biggest pieces of like feedback that I would wish like I had before I started TKS would just be to like start your focus early and one thing I did a lot this year was just like going to a bunch of different Technologies and Sciences that really interested me and it's to the point where you just want to you don't want to overthink it so if you find something really You're staying then I was just a good idea to start looking into it like find resources online, like hustle meetings. A lot of people cold email people, like don't be afraid to reach out to people because oftentimes they're willing to help you because they feel inspired by the work you're doing. Well what if they haven't done anything yet? Then I'd recommend just doing just just following the process. I think the process really does work and you'll realize that as you start to follow it and so off the bat, I would just like write a bunch of Articles like make a ton of videos talk to a lot of people and then once you start to gain a lot of knowledge and you can start to reach out to really legit people and in the industry that you're focusing on and then you'll got like tons of opportunities to learn more and like expand your knowledge and work on like really sick projects with like really cool car. Knees so I remember I don't know maybe eight months ago. Now you messaged me and you're like, I don't know if I'm on the right path. I haven't gotten any speaking opportunities yet. And I was like relax like just keep doing what you're doing. You're on the right track and you were judging yourself based on the opportunities. You were getting what would you say to that past self? That was kind of judging your success based on your speaking opportunities versus just the quality of the content you're putting out. Yeah, like opportunities literally don't matter and I think it like everyone coming into TKS really values that but it's really it's not a good success metric if you really think about it because you could be doing nothing and then getting a ton of speaking opportunities, but really it's about like what you learn and that's the thing that will come in handy when you're actually like talking to legit people and they want to be able to test your knowledge and like your technical ability to like build a project or work on a hard problem with them. So I highly recommend Like one of the biggest metrics is just like how do you just have high standards for yourself? And then how do you just continuously like set the bar higher and higher it TKS? So one of the things is like right now we have like we have like a metrics for like who produces the best content but really I would challenge like all of you to try and create the best article or try and create the best video because that's really how you like create the culture of keeping each other motivated, but also always continuously striving. Going to learn more so really it's about like curiosity but also the quality of the content that you're continuously pushing and how you're motivating the people around you to also do that and just to kind of take on to that the quality of the content you build is equivalent to the quality of the knowledge you have right? And you know, you've been to New York speaking a consensus you went to Switzerland to talk to these blockchain companies talk to us about why Having deep knowledge and actually understanding this content matter so much. Yeah, so I'll give you guys an example for when I was in Switzerland working with company and there were basically working on Supply Chain management. They wanted to integrate like machine learning and blockchain into their process. So machine learning for like tracking the products as they move along within the supply chain and using the data that they're collecting in the feedback that they're getting from their users and running a bunch of like different algorithms. Jean that to analyze how they can better produce their products and Target different audiences. So I had unlike previous work in this area. So I did a bunch of stuff with machine learning and with blockchain specifically a developed application in Pharmaceuticals to track your medication. So really I like the past knowledge to understand first of all like how this works. But also when you go into a company oftentimes you'll realize when people have been working in the company for so long they almost Get tunnel vision, right? They don't know as much as you probably know and you're able to bring a fresh perspective. So for example within this company, there's like tons of data that this company had collected just like inventory data because they were updating their inventory manually. They have like people going in and updating Excel sheets whenever like a product you move from one place to another port in a different country. So it was really really inefficient. And so I had to like scrambled through all of this data and like figure out how to organize this into Anywhere, you could actually run algorithms on it and train it in a model. So one of the biggest things was if I hadn't done that previous project. I wouldn't have understood like first of all, how do you do that? And then second of all, how do you do it in a way where it's actually valuable for the company and what they're trying to do. So when you get a breadth of knowledge, it's good because you're not just thinking about the specific thing you worked on but also you're able to apply it to two different scenarios and different situations and are able to adapt. So that was like one of the biggest things for me was like that was challenging but it was also like I was prepared for it because I done that project previously and I was open to learning while I was well, I was working on this as well. So what did you know about blockchain AI all these things before starting TKS nothing you knew nothing. So all these new students coming in should they stress about? Oh, I don't know how to code. I don't know about blockchain. Like is that worth stressing about? No, it really isn't. I think the best thing you can do. Actually the worst thing you can do is stress about it. But the best thing you can do is like just learn like just start early. Like I said follow the process and don't worry about like what other people are doing or like what you what you should be doing. It's really just like are you learning and are you growing and like continuously set metrics for yourself to get better at making articles or making videos but also like getting more knowledge and getting really Technical so one thing that I think you're really good with is consistency like you're always producing content and when you stop and you have like, you know a period of time where you're not producing anything I find that you catch yourself and then you start producing stuff again. What's the what's the trick? Like, how do you how are you able to be so consistent when other people, you know, get demotivated or stop producing things. Like how do you stay motivated and and keep going? Yeah, so it's like, it's some Until thing for me. It's like I think like every article or every like research paper that I'm reading. I think of it as just like an opportunity for me to learn. So if I'm like slapping one day and I'm like I need to write this article, but I don't want to like the first thing that comes to my mind is like this is like so much knowledge that I could be gaining right now. Like I'm missing out on this opportunity to literally learn about the six stuff that I could talk to like really cool people about and it just makes you even more legit and just makes you someone who's more Isabel so people want to actually talk to you as well. So I think biggest thing for me is like realizing first of all, I'm just missing out on so much opportunity to learn and then second of all like I'm doing this all for myself, right? Ultimately. You're just trying to become a better version of yourself every single day. So I know that sounds like really cliche but really if you're motivated internally by just curiosity then it's easy to catch yourself when you're like procrastinating or being lazy, so Really? It's just like a mental trigger. And I think it's important for people like before TKS to develop that and really find that like internal motivation to do this stuff. It's also one thing I noticed about people if you're not curious or if you don't have like an internal drive for anything, you can't expect someone else to give you that like nobody is going to make you curious. Nobody is going to make you driven like either you want something. Either you are hungry for it knowledge or information or whatever or you're not and you know, that's one of the that's one of the things that we try filtering for and TKS because you know, if you're a car if you're driving a car your foot should be on the gas pedal the whole time and then TKS could give you fuel, right. So when you run out of fuel we can give you that fuel, but you need to be the one in the driver's seat putting your foot on the pedal, you know steering on the steering wheel and then we can guide you in the direction to go to we can give you more fuel but If your foots on the brake, nothing's gonna happen right tell me about like your happiness levels. When when do you usually find like you're the most kind of fulfilled and happy in life? Yeah, I think best like so this ties into like another thing that I wish I did Preeti chaos, which is like building really strong relationships with like people around me. So when I came into TKS, I was very like work Focus like I just want to get stuff done. Unlike I shouldn't write articles and produce content constantly and that's good. I think you should you should definitely do that. But you should also find that like balance of talking to people like finding opportunities to develop like authentic relationships like have brain dates with people like set up as many as you can and so I think that's like one thing I didn't click for me till later on in TKS. So I think that's when I've actually found myself the happiest was when I'm surrounded by like really smart people that are also super driven to do this. Like the same stuff is me and that was like one thing that I realized was like a different culture shock as well compared to school and you'll realize that the culture that you have in school is very like competitive like you always just want to be better than the other person but it's like it's very different and TKS and we really like cultivate that culture of like, let's help each other. Like let's let's try to like lift each other up and that's something I've been doing a lot is like if I find a cool opportunity, I'm like, how can I just helped my Our friends hop on this as well so we can all do it together and it becomes a lot more like enjoyable and lot more fun. So I think that's usually when I'm like the happiest is when I'm around really cool T. Guess people. Were you intimidated by anyone before you joined TKS? Yes, I was intimidated by you. But also yeah, I think like oftentimes I like I was really intimidated by like the previous activate kids and like the stuff that they done. I was like, I don't know if I can do this. So now you're that person this So should people be intimidated by you know, yeah. So like what would you have told your self last year, you know when you're intimidated by someone in TKS? I think just like you will be really uncomfortable when you want to like talk to people or reach out but just do it and you'll realize like people are actually really willing to help you and they're open to like providing you with like honest feedback and also like be open to feedback. I think that was another thing is like you we've always looked at feedback. Like a bad thing like this person just like didn't like this one thing I did but really feedbacks good because you realize like it's part of that culture again. Like we're helping each other get better and we're setting constantly higher standards. So like I would reach out to people like ask for feedback. And then also like look for ways that you can provide them with value so has to be like a two-way thing and not just like a transactional relationship where you're constantly like asking for something or asking for feedback. So I think definitely like build that and then just literally just reach out to people it's not very hard to do. So if people are like yeah easy for you to say just reach out to people like, I don't know anyone like what would you tell them to do? What's like one thing they should just do right now just go on just go on like announcements or go on like the new channel that we created say hi and literally just message like the first five people you see like DM them on slack. Yeah, and what should they say just be like, I mean just just intro solve it. Hey, like, I'm in this cohort if your messaging someone from innovate, they like I'd love to set up a brain date chat about whatever you want to talk about and then just set up a time to chat. I also think like like make that a priority because I think a lot of people it's easy for you to be like Oh, I'm busy or I don't want to make time to hang out but make it a priority and like set out time in your schedule to do that some. All right, so just wrapping up now. What is the TL DR? Well, okay. So number one build strong relationships talked to a lot of people number two is just like follow the process and make sure you're like just starting your focus early like you should like if I wish I could have just started it like before TKS like I had no idea what the process really was, but I wish I just started learning and writing articles so do that and then third I think just like find that internal motivation and figure out what's really going to drive you and I think that's We really important for you to for you to be able to grow in this program. Hey, cool. Thanks Elizabeth. Yeah. Thanks.
Alishba is in her second year of TKS (Activate). In this podcast, she talks about what she wishes she knew before starting TKS. Tune in to hear about why she thinks building relationships in TKS is super important, and to follow the process! About Alishba:  Alishba a 16-year-old Blockchain, Machine Learning developer & researcher from The Knowledge Society. She was the winner of the Enterprise Youth Blockchain Innovator Award, and she is passionate about leveraging these technologies to solve important issues in sustainability, pharmaceuticals, and finance. At just 15, she's worked with Hyperledger to create HonestBlocks which using Blockchain helps people in developing countries manage their healthcare records and track their products like counterfeit medicine. Alishba has also developed various Machine Learning algorithms studying various factors within our DNA to diagnose Malaria and Pneumonia at a 95% accuracy rate. She has worked with Vestergaard in Switzerland to consult them with Blockchain integration in their supply chain, inventory management & she recently won a full scholarship to be in Japan this October attending DevCon, one of the largest Blockchain gatherings in the world. Over this past year, Alishba has spoken at some of the world’s most innovative conferences like Google Think Telecom, Global Revolution, Consensys in New York, and she will later be speaking at Microsoft TruffleCon in Seattle. Throughout her journey, she has been supported by some very innovative companies like Google, Microsoft, and TD! 