Celebrate – Inspire – Connect

That was the slogan for yesterday’s event “A Toast for Social Entrepreneurship” organized by the Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada, short YSEC. They are a great bunch of young, innovative change makers that I have met in March during a conference called Re:Vision. I was volunteering my time to take photographs of the event, where they connected over 100 social entrepreneurs from all over Ontario and met a lot of amazing people.

Video produced by Veracity Films

So I kept in touch with the member of the community and it was definitely worth it! Recently I produced a couple of videos for their event “A Toast to Social Entrepreneurship“. To mark the end of Global Entrepreneurship month, and in celebration of YSEC’s first successful year as an organization, they invited 80 of Toronto’s leading social innovators to connect, inspire and celebrate together on November 25th 2010.

In addition to the invitation video I also produced three video to be released in the weeks before the event. We talked to a few already successful social entrepreneurs. Among others we met with Tonya Surman, the founding executive director of the Centre for Social Innovation – a dynamic convergence space whose mission is to catalyze, connect and support new ideas that are changing the world. Tonya was recognized as a ‘Leader in Social Change’ from the Canadian New Media Awards in 2009 and in 2010, Tonya became a Global Ashoka. Follow for her work at CSI: http://www.socialinnovation.ca/

That was followed by a meeting with Julia Moulden, who presents a new group of role models — ordinary men and women who have reinvented what they do for a living. They’re people who want their work to reflect their values, and help them make a difference in the world. She calls these individuals New Radicals. Keep your eyes open for her new book that is being released now: http://wearethenewradicals.com/

Next participant for our video series was Philip Haid, public good creator, doer, designer and above all CEO of Public Inc, a company that was created with a 100% focus on creating social impact. A company that believes small acts of “good” multiplied by lots of people adds up to a whole lot, and where fun and imagination must be baked into every idea. Read more about them here: http://www.publicinc.com/

And last, but not least we talked to experienced public speaker, Drew Dudley, who had some great insights in why it is important to have a meaning in your life. The former coordinator of one of the largest university leadership development programs in the country, Drew Dudley nevertheless embraces the idea that “leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned.” Now the Founder and Chief Catalyst of Nuance Leadership Inc., Drew works with dozens of universities, colleges, high schools, charities and other organizations around the world to empower young people to increase their leadership capacity. Check out his work here: http://www.drewdudley.net/

The event yesterday was a full success, congratulations to the winners of the pitch competition, the Young Urban Farmers CSA (http://www.youngurbanfarmers.com/news/young-urban-farmers-csa-info/) and the Neighbourhood Basketball Association (http://www.nbacanada.org/).

And thank you for great inspiration from the speakers, organizers and everybody else who was there!

Related posts:

1. Exciting things happening with RIPE this fall
2. Julia Moulden’s RIPE book trailer