"How to influence positive change, start using your voice" with Hassan Wadi

You're listening to TFR, This Feels Right. And welcome to TFR, This Feels Right. I'm your host, Joel Silverstone. Now we've got a great show, but before we jump in, let's check in with our first guest. Hassan Wadi. Hassan, how are you feeling today?

I'm still alive, my brother. I'm still alive. I'm feeling great, man. Thanks for having me, man. I love your intro. You got the voice.

Well, you've got the energy. So this is going to be a great show. As I said, I'm Joel Silverstone, and for over 20 years, I've been helping people in business and sometimes in life to be more influential using their communication skills. without being manipulative. And what that means is they're able to speak to the logic and most importantly, Hassan, you know it all about this, connect to the emotion. So the other person says, yeah, this feels right.

Mm-hmm.

Today's show is going to be about how to influence positive change by using your voice, by starting to use your voice. How to influence positive change by starting to use use your voice. And we've got the right person for that today because Hassan Wadi is a professional award-winning speaker. He is a— he is running— the founder of Youth Speakers Academy. We're gonna talk a bit more about that because this is one of the things that really attracted me to bring Hassan on the show. And, you know, Hassan, as you're gonna see, is someone who is one of these people that is just so positive that that when you meet them, you like them immediately. They are comfortable in their own skin. They are curious. They are reciprocal in their energies and emotions that right off the bat, you know, you just like this person. And he's done that with also as a spokesperson and ambassador, part of his philanthropy causes of HCI, which is Human Concern International. He is also a top 10 fitness professional and is currently the fitness supervisor at the City of Mississauga. Is this correct? Do I have this right so far?

You got it 100%, man. I don't know how you memorized that, but you did.

Well, I'm looking at some notes. It's not all memorized.

I'm looking down.

I'm looking down because I want to get it right.

I want to get it right. Yeah.

I want it to feel right for you.

You know, I feel this feels right, man. This feels right right now.

Perfect. Well, let's start with this because, you know, you are an award-winning speaker and, you know, this didn't come naturally for you. This was This was a journey for you, and we're going to talk a little bit more about where you won this award for your Just Say Yes speech at a competition. But before we get there, what you seem to have uncovered, Hassan, is the power of speaking. So let's unpack that. Share with the audience what you have uncovered and why you think this is so important, because you use this professionally and personally and for the good of others.

Honestly, to tell you the truth, Joel, I realized one thing, and that's, um, that the number 2 skills I say— and this is why I tell parents when I connect with them— is number 2 skills that you really need in any profession, anything that you're doing, whether it's leadership and public speaking. Um, whether you're a doctor, engineer, mechanic, in sports, communication is so important. Um, being able to express yourself, being able to, you know, uplift others. Influence others, inspire others. These are key things. This has to deal— like, this deals with people's emotions, their hearts, their lives. So it's not something that everybody can do. And when you can do it right, you can really make a huge difference on people's lives. And it doesn't have to be through a job. It could be through connecting with a friend. It could be, you know, someone you met that needs help. It could be that you're doing a video to To help others or raise money, or, um, there's so many different uses that you can actually use your voice, either for the good or for the bad.

Well, you're using it for the good, and we're going to talk a little bit more about the charity work that you're doing and that you're, you're traveling the globe, uh, to, to raise funds. And, and it really becomes when you figured out how to use your voice, and, uh, and then, and then these charities said, hey, this guy's got a great voice and he's comfortable to use it, let's, let's use it. But let's go back to this idea of, you know, speaking, even if you're not on a stage, as you were just saying, that, you know, that you can use your voice to influence. How did you figure out how to use your voice? Or was there a moment you figured it out?

Yeah, well, the moment was I joined Toastmasters. I joined to improve my public speaking because I had a presentation for work that I I didn't do too good of a job on. And somebody told me about Toastmasters. I had no clue what it was at the time, but I, so I went and checked it out and I was there and it took me about like 8 months to do my first speech. Took a really long time. And through that 8 months, I kept thinking, man, like, what are you doing here? Quit this thing already, man. It's not for you, man. You see people go up, they do their speeches and they're so good. And you're like, isn't this supposed to be for people that are bad? Like, what the hell? So—

Where's the rookies? Yeah.

Yeah. Where are the rookies, man? Like, I want somebody that goes up there and, you know, doesn't do so good. I can feel good and go up there and speak. So, but I did my first speech, and honestly, that's where it goes back to. It's all about the start. The start is the hardest. Once I did my first speech, you know, I did my second and third, and I realized how much I loved it. And then through that, as I discovered this, this passion, I started thinking, okay, what else can I do with this? You know, how can I use this to benefit others, help others, and You know, a friend called— named Roger Caesars, he's also like an award-winning speaker with Toastmasters. He says, you know, you are— you can be the voice for the voiceless. And that really hit me, right? Like using my voice and so to help those who don't have a voice. And that's where I started making videos to raise money to support families here in Canada, around the world, and using my voice. And then through that the charity came in and noticed that there was something there. They saw the potential in me and they took me on, and that allowed me to use my voice for even like greater level, you know?

Yeah, and I love— absolutely. And you know, Hassan, I love that you have said, um, anybody can do this because like you said, it wasn't something that came naturally to you. Yeah, you were committed to it.

Yeah, and I tell the kids this as well, is the equation requires 2 things, you know. It's effort and then there's talent, but one without the other is not enough. You have to put in the effort, and that's what I did. It took me about three years of training to to do anything with my speaking. You know, like three years of contests, Toastmaster contests. When you go into these Toastmaster contests, let me tell you, they take over your life. I don't know if you've ever been to one or seen one.

No.

Yeah, man, this is this is serious stuff, man. Like this, you are locked in a basement practicing the same lines over and over. It took over my life. I had no life, and but it forces you to learn every piece of. Like art of speaking because you want the upper edge, you know?

Yeah.

And so it took a lot of practice. It wasn't like I was born with it. And that's why it's a great example to use for others to know, like, you could do it too in something that you want to improve on, but are you willing to put the work behind it? You know, there is some talent involved. I'm not going to say I have no talent because I have a strong voice. I have energy. It's natural.

Yeah.

But the skill, the skill wasn't there until I actually worked on it.

Well, what, what, you know, because that's the thing, like, what if someone listening right now is going, okay, look, I want to use my voice, but I don't know what that skill is. Do you think you can, are you able to define what some of those skills are?

In regards to what? Like if they want to?

Yeah. Yeah. If you want to speak, right? So like, what, what are some key, what are some of the key ingredients here?

Yeah, it's all practice, man. That's all I tell them, you know. Uh, when I— even my academy, I don't, I don't lecture much. I don't go up there and lecture much. I get them to go up there and speak, and then I just keep giving feedback. And through my feedback, people learn. But, uh, speaking is about practice. It's about, you know, being able to go up there. And most of it is just fear, you know. The number one fear in the world is public speaking. Yeah, it's public speaking.

Death. That's why it's, it's a Seinfeld joke, right? Which is, he says, uh, If those are your fears, imagine you have to give the— what do you say? What do you do at your funeral? You say give the—

Oh, that— what do they call it, man? The funeral speech.

Yeah, the funeral speech. Yeah, you have to give your own speech at your own funeral, right? So yeah, it covers the two. Let's go to Youth Speakers Academy. So you started this a year ago or?

About 8 months ago, man.

8 months ago.

And it started off as free? Free service. I was just thinking, like I said, like what I tell the students as well is once you discover what it is that you're passionate about, what it is that you're good at, what it is, what's your gift, once you discover that, you know, ask yourself these 2 questions: how can you make money from your gift? That's one thing, because we all have to survive, we all have to pay the bills. And then the other thing is, how can you give back through your gift? So at first, Speaker Academy was a free service that I provided to Youth at the Mosque. And I did it for— I did 20 students as like a trial thing, and it was so successful. All the parents were going crazy over it. There was such a high demand. But I could only do so much when it was free, like in regards to books, in regards to quality, in regards to certificates, all this stuff.

Yeah.

So I said, why don't I take it to the next level and make something great, make something amazing? And I can then hire people to do it so that I can service more people.

Right.

And we went from like one class a year of 20 students to right now, it's been 8 months, we've had about more than maybe 350 students. And that's because, you know, I've been able to kind of use the resources from the fees to make it into a bigger thing so that they can really benefit and they can feel like they're part of something big.

Yeah, I feel part of a community.

Yes.

You know, what attracted me to this when I saw this, that you were running the Youth Speakers Academy, was I've always really believed that obviously if you're not able to express your thoughts and able to say what's important to you, to say your needs, your wants, and most importantly, not say for your own sake, but say it because you're trying to connect with the person in front of you. And, and youth, especially now in this day and age with, with all the technology and the social media, they've lost that ability to articulate their, their thoughts. And so when I saw that this is something you're, you're really giving to these people, I thought this is really, really— it's, it's important and, and way overlooked because they don't really teach this in school.

They don't. And you know what, man, what I realize is if they do teach it in school, it's the wrong way of public speaking. Oh yeah, I've been, I've been to contests by public speaking contests in schools and as a judge, and I just emailed the principal. I said, listen, this is so wrong. This is not the natural way of speaking. What they get them to do is they get them to report rather than to speak. They have like this, you know, they're almost like they're reading a novel. Speaking the way I teach it is all about storytelling. You know, storytelling is the number one thing. Forget about even presentations. When you connect with someone in an interview, people go on interviews and think they gotta give all their experience and how good they are. Everybody's doing that. What makes you different? Storytelling. Tell your story, why you're there, you know, why are you here, why do you want this job, how, where did you come from. This is what's going to make you different.

Yes, absolutely, because you don't remember facts, but you do remember, but you remember a story.

Yes.

Yeah, because it creates the senses.

Yeah, yeah, and to tell a story, it is something you need to be able to work on. It's not easy, it doesn't come natural for everybody, it takes a lot to get the students to think of a story to tell. That's probably the hardest part. Once they think of something, then— but we all have stories. Every little thing we do, there's a learning moment from it. We just have to look deep and be able to find these moments that we can share, um, to benefit others. And it's, and it's done through stories. Even brands, even companies, um, you know, the most successful companies are those that have stories behind their companies. I was at Niagara Falls eating pizza, Papa John's pizza, and I was sitting down. At the time, I was actually working on a presentation, Keys to Powerful Storytelling, and this gave me a great idea because I was there eating and they had a poster up on the wall.

Yeah.

And it was— the poster was a picture of a Mustang, and the story was how the guy, the creator of Papa John's, how he started was he actually sold his Mustang and he built this little like pizza shop in his garage or whatnot. And that's how it started, through selling his favorite thing in the world, his car. And I looked at that, I said, wow, this is what I was talking about, is that story. Now it's more than just a pizza, you know, it's a pizza with like a soul in it, you know?

Right, and I can see why this appeals to you because your commitment is also like that, where you're— it's an unconscious commitment that you have, which is you You're committed to this and you would unconsciously, you wouldn't even think twice about selling your car to follow your dream, to follow your passion. So let's talk about The Power of Speaking with Just Say Yes, where you kind of share your journey about this. So what is the mindset behind Just Say Yes? This was an award-winning speech that you did, which was basically a 7-minute story.

Yeah, pretty much, pretty much exactly. And then the message at the end.

Right.

Yeah.

But, you know, so what's the mind— what's the mindset behind Just Say Yes?

You know, it's, uh, the quote was actually by Richard Branson. He says, uh, when someone offers you an opportunity that you're not sure if you could do it, you know, just say yes and learn how to do it later. You know, like, you're gonna be provided with opportunities that you're not ready for, you're not sure of, that you don't know how to do, that maybe it's not your expertise, you weren't trained for it. Um, and you're like, oh my God, but, uh, you know, I'm not ready for this. Maybe I should reject it. No, it's, you know, just say yes and learn how to do it later. And then you think, no, but I have to be ready. No, you don't have to be 100%. You'll never be sometimes 100% ready.

Yeah.

Like, like you need that, you know. And so it was opportunity. My boss asked me to emcee at like a big stage. I've never done it before. I thought it was gonna be fine. I teach fitness classes in front of people, like, right, how can it be different? But speaking is so different. Yeah, because they're not doing jumping jacks while they're listening to you. They're just there watching you, right? And, uh, and it's scary. And I know you do like workshops and stuff, and that is like even scarier because everyone's in a confined room, right? Um, and you got to get them to be engaged and active. And, and so I said yes. I said yes, even though I didn't know if I was ready, if I was prepared. It's not something that I did before. And did it go well? It didn't. I actually failed, and it was a terrible job. But from that failure, I took training, and from that training I discovered my passion, and from that passion, You Speaker Academy, Human Concern International, and all the speaking engagements came through. So, so for everyone out there, you know, the key message from that speech is go out there, try something new, whether it's an opportunity that was given to you or an opportunity that you have to create. Just say yes and learn how to do it later, and you never know what might come out of that opportunity. It could be your life purpose.

You know what, it's Just Say Yes, I think, is also, you will, if you're prepared to accept that you, you can learn, you, it's a learning experience, that it's not about getting it perfect. That's what Just Say Yes is, is you're not gonna get it.

It's okay to fail.

It's okay to fail as long as you're open to say, I'll look back and what, what did I learn from that to be better, which is basically what your journey has been as Just Say Yes. So if we want to use our voice to create positive change. Because right now it is so important not just to listen, but to be able to use our voice for so much going on in the world right now, uh, to really be able to express that is we can't be afraid of censoring ourselves. We have to just say yes.

Yeah, it's so true. And you know what, like, and, and that, like I said, that could be your ticket to discovering what your true purpose is. You know, there was a a book called StrengthsFinders. It's a training as well that I read, and it was talking about the importance of discovering what your talents are and pursuing that and just forgetting about your weaknesses. You know, you can work on it a little bit, but pay attention to your strengths. That's what will make you excellent. That's what was going to make you stand out. And, and, but sometimes, you know, there was a— it was like a story, a fictional story that he shared. It was about this guy that passes away and then, um, and goes to heaven. And then speaking to the angel, and, and he's telling him, you know, I have a big passion for history. Um, who is the greatest general of all time? Who would have been the greatest general of all time? And the angel like points at this other guy in heaven, whatnot. And he said, no, no, that can't be him. I know this guy. He was like a laborer, you know, like he didn't do much. He says, yes, you are right. He would have been the greatest general of all time. if he was actually a general, but all he did his whole life was become a laborer because he didn't go out of his comfort zone and try something new to ever discover that he could have been that. You know, LeBron James, if he didn't play basketball, there would be no LeBron James, right? If you didn't ever speak, there would be no, this feels right.

That's right. Yeah, absolutely.

You got it.

You got to try. You got to try and make— and you might discover it because there's nothing wrong with being a laborer. As long as you are happy doing it. But if you have doubts—

Correct.

If you have doubts about yourself, that there's something else you want to be doing, like, you know, you're doing different things. You are running the fitness program in the City of Mississauga, and you're an ambassador and spokesperson for Human Concern International, and you're running youth academy. You're following your passions and it fuels you.

Yeah, and you know what, for the laborer, if the person is laborer and that is their passion, that is their calling, Yeah, that is success. Yeah, for that person, their calling was to be a general, but he never discovered that, uh, because he didn't go out of his comfort zone. So whatever it is, whether it's labor, whether, you know, you're, you're a gardener, whether you're, uh, you're working at a supermarket, if that's something you're passionate about and you make a difference on others, then stick to that. That's your thing, and just do your best at that, you know what I mean? So—

Let's keep that theme of just say yes. We're gonna do, we're gonna do We're gonna take our little break here that we like to call Improv Your Communication Style.

Oh my goodness.

So we're gonna do a little something. We're gonna start with something we call Yes, But. We're gonna— it's gonna lead us somewhere else. But in the idea of Just Say Yes, improv is so scary for most people. But let me check in, Hassan. Are you ready to give this a shot?

I'm ready, man. I'm on camera, man. I can't mess this up, man.

All right, uh, this is, this is what we're gonna do. Um, we are going to be, uh, colleagues, uh, and, um, you are going to be, uh, convincing me to go to, uh, to prepare to go on a, on a trip in 2021, uh, to raise— to, to build a well in, in Ghana. All right, all right, because I think that's something you're supposed to do.

Good example, man.

Yeah, yeah, all right, uh, but I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm hesitant. Uh, yeah, I don't like, I don't like to travel. Okay, okay, okay, all right, so just, you know, every— I'm gonna always answer with yes, but.

Yes, but. All right, all right, all right, no problem.

Okay.

Hey Joel, how's it going, man?

Good.

Yeah, good. Hey, did you hear, man? I heard there's a big discount on tickets to Ghana. I was thinking we can go there. Um, you know, I was working with with a charity, we can build some wells, you know, what do you think?

Yes, but that's a long way away. That seems quite far.

Yeah, but you know, I've heard you've never traveled before, so why not give it a shot and get out of your comfort zone, will you?

Yes, but we can't all be like you.

Hey, listen, I don't want you to be like me. I want you to be you. But in order to be you, you gotta do this and come with me to Ghana.

Yes, but I'm really getting panicky about getting on the plane. All right, we'll pause right there. You're doing great. You're doing good. We're gonna go back in time. We're gonna rewind.

Do do do do do do.

And then Hassan, now I'm gonna always answer with yes and don't change anything.

Okay.

Okay, here we go.

All right, Joel, man, I heard the tickets are on discount. I was thinking, you know, since you've never traveled before, why not, you know, go out and do and make a difference with your travel and come with me to Ghana and build a water well?

Yes, and even though I'm nervous about it, I see the purpose of doing this.

Yes, and it is all about the purpose, and I think we can go there and help some people, and that water well is gonna be there for years for people to drink from, and all that reward, all those good deeds are gonna come on you.

Yes, and I can really see, you know, that this is something I can really make a difference. I appreciate that.

Yeah, and so that's awesome, man. So what I'll do is I'll book the ticket and—

Okay, pause right there. Okay, because now we're making travel arrangements. All right, bravo!

Well done.

All right, how did you feel, Hassan, when we were doing— when you were being yes-butted?

And man, I said, what's wrong with this guy, man? Why is he rejecting everything I'm saying? I didn't feel good. Obviously you want someone to agree with you, or at least like partially, you know, think what you're saying is a good idea.

Yeah, at least be open. And you know what, I don't know if you noticed, but your voice was getting louder and louder with every rejection.

Yeah, I was done with you, man.

Yeah, well, it was because you were trying really hard, and what you went to is you went to making your voice bigger to try.

Yeah, I was ready to jump through the screen, man.

I'm sure. How did you feel when you were being yes-anded?

It's always nice, you know, it feels good to For someone to agree with what you're saying and at least be supportive and understanding. I mean, you don't always have to agree with somebody, but there are ways to communicate so that you don't turn that person— feel like it's a rejection, you know?

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like, even though I was nervous about flying, I say, yes, and— yes, and I'm nervous about flying, but I could see— and I could see the purpose in doing this.

So you mentioned the nervousness, but then you added a little positive aspect to it.

That's right. Because, you know, if you want to create speaking to create positive change, you do have to express your concerns. You do have to say what, what you're thinking. So even when you're telling the story, there's that vulnerability when you were saying, you know, I failed.

I went through that failure.

This is what I learned. And you're not, you're not embarrassed to say it. Like, you're sharing that.

You got to share both sides. Yeah.

So let's I want to talk about Human Concern International, but before we get there, and we talked about Youth Speakers Academy, before we get there, I just want to talk about self-talk, right? Because you talked about, you know, public speaking is, you know, it's one of our biggest fears. Even when you just say yes, you had your self-talk going, you know, I'm just a fitness guy and I've let everybody down. So how did you, you know, for our listeners, How did you think about attacking your self-talk, or how did you manage to change your self-talk?

Yeah, honestly, as humans, I think we put ourselves down a lot. You know, we, we tend to always undermine our abilities, what we're capable of. I still do that to myself. Honestly, my confidence is not like— people see me sometimes, they think I'm really— I have really high confidence, but deep down, like, my self-talk, I always, I always doubt. You know, those doubts are always there. But I remind the kids as well that the importance of positive self-talk is that you have to be able to stop those negative thoughts and replace them with positive things. You know, there's a video that I posted a few months ago about what I do before every presentation is I get myself in like a closed space and I just, I tell myself how good I am. I tell myself that I've done this before a million times and, you know, and I do my breathing exercises and And I just try to make myself feel good because you have to be your own cheerleader. And if you're not your own cheerleader, ain't nobody cheerleading for you, man. So you got to believe in yourself before someone else believes in you. And so you got to do your self-talk. It's got to be positive, and you got to be able to be aware of the negative voice, you know, and so that you can stop it when it kicks in. But the thing is, is I only discovered— like, how do you discover? Like, you know, when I discovered speaking, I realized I had something more there, that there was another passion that I had aside from fitness, but I would have never discovered that if it wasn't for the experience, you know?

Yeah. You know, and, and you, you did a great job of really describing the self-talk because it is— self-talk is, is going to be negative, right?

It is, man. It is.

And if we keep staying there, it's going to fulfill the prophecy.

Oh, it's true. So true.

You're a loser. And so you're going to go out, I'm a loser.

Yeah.

Who's good? If you don't believe in yourself, who's going to believe in you?

Yeah.

But changing it to the positive, at least you're trying to rewire. And it doesn't have to be an opposite, right? It's, you know, if I'm just a fitness guy, and I think the positive could be that I am a fitness guy who has been in front of people before and has spoken with confidence. What did I do to feel confident when I was speaking in front of people in a fitness class? And so that's even just that small change.

A change, yeah.

Yeah, that's small. It doesn't have to be so big. It doesn't have to be, you know, I suck. To I am the greatest. It doesn't have to be that.

You know what, anything in, in big ways like that does not work. You gotta, you gotta take small steps. And the best of deeds, uh, you know, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, in Islam, you know, one of his quotes is, the best of deeds are those that are consistent yet small. So like, it's, it's really important that you take small steps and not think it has to be huge. And those small steps, those little things add up. And become bigger things, but you can't get bigger things until you do the little tiny things.

Yeah, and this is good because, you know, here you are, you're a fitness professional. I mean, you know all about that. You can't all of a sudden, you know, lose 20 pounds.

Oh, that too. Yeah.

You got— it's got to be start by doing 10 push-ups. Yeah, start by eating, you know, one slice of bread less. You know, it's those small steps. You don't go fasting and Run a marathon.

And even, even when you do that in fitness, it never works out. Like, if you lose your weight too fast, you'll gain it back really fast. And, um, so, and if you're in the gym for 4 hours weight training, after like the first hour and a half, you're no longer adding any benefit. So it's like, uh, it really is true, you know, take it step by step, you know, small consistent actions, um, and it will add up and create something big in the long run.

Yeah, you know, I was working with some, some people years ago about helping them to run their first 10K.

Oh!

And these people hadn't run before. And so, you know what, we didn't run, we didn't go running 10 kilometers to run 10K. We just worked on, you know, running a little bit just to get those muscles used to it, and then walking, and then working on getting your legs moving fast, just even sprinting, just to get your legs into like that new muscle memory. And so it's the same thing with Having the courage to speak, it's a new muscle memory that you are using, and taking those small steps gets us used to it.

Yeah. Let's go.

Let's go to. Let's go to Human Concern International talking about small steps. So here you are. You're you decided to use your voice to raise money for charity. You're making videos in your backyard, basically.

Yeah.

And then what happens?

I was at an event. I was emceeing an event with Doug Ford at the time, actually.

Who's the Premier of Ontario.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, for those, for those in Qatar, actually. Yeah, that's right.

We're ranked number 7 in Qatar.

Number 7, ladies and gentlemen. So I was, I was emceeing an event, and then after the event finished, you know, I guess one of the, like, the regional managers of the charity came up to me and asked me, hey man, you want to, like, join our organization? I'm like, yeah, if you want to make me, I'll make you a video, you know, what do you need? Like, I was just like, Yeah, why not, man? Don't worry, I don't charge. I was like, you know, I was like, man, I was still fresh, like, right, you know, like, uh, what do you guys need? Yeah, I got you. Like, no, no, we want to pay you, we would actually hire you. I'm like, ah, don't worry about it, man, just— I was so fresh, so green. And they're like, no, no, no, we actually want to like make it official. I'm like, really? Like, what do you mean? Like, you know, it's always like exciting when you're like starting out and you get these opportunities, right? Whether it's your first speaking engagement or your first you know, paid workshop, or it's exciting, right? And so that's how it started. I connected with these guys. They've been seeing me like over events, and, and I became their official spokesperson, brand ambassador. So now, you know, I get to speak for a living. Like, it's, it's beautiful. I get to travel with them and MC events with them, raise money for them, do videos that are really cool, like distributing food and clothes and winter kits and So it's a really rewarding experience and it allows me to take my gift to the next level.

Yeah. So what, what was the experience for you? You were just recently, I mean, you, you just before COVID-19 hit us, you were just recently in Syria. So what was your sort of aha from that, from that whole experience?

You know, it's just, you go there and you see how life is in the different countries, you know, where they have no electricity, no heating, no water. And, you know, the kids are walking around with no shoes and they're all dirty. They're all— mud is everywhere. And like, and how they're living in like camps and tents and the washrooms and like the toilet is in the floor and it's like covered with a curtain and it's shared by all the neighbors. And, um, and it just really makes you grateful for what we have here in Canada. That's the first thing, the opportunities that we have, which is why we really have to capture those opportunities when they come. Just say yes.

Mm-hmm.

And, um, And it was just, you know, it was an experience that made you— humbles you. And we went there, we distributed like winter kits, mattresses, bed covers, oil, fuel, stuff like that. And we went back to Turkey, and that's where we're residing, because, you know, you can't stay in Syria too long. It's a dangerous, dangerous area. But that was one of their projects, you know, and we do many projects like that over the year.

And you notice that, you know, as far as, you know, using your voice for change, I think what You know, what you shared with me earlier also is that you noticed by you actually going there and shooting the videos there got more people inspired to contribute. And also, I think you said you were putting like people's names on the packages that had done that. So, you know, is that correct? Is that—

Yeah, so, you know, it's again, like, you know, when people see you there and they see the videos and they get really excited, feel like they're part of the experience. They're on that journey with you. And then when they donate, it's like even a deeper experience. And then when you have their names and it's a personalized package where, you know, I put everybody's name on the package, thank you, you know, Melissa, Melissa was one of them, so thank you, Melissa. And I had her name on there and I was in Syria and this total other side of the world and the family comes and grabs this package and they know that Melissa gave them this package. So it just becomes very personal to the people that are donating And they almost feel like they're with me on this trip. And so that allowed, you know, made the trip a lot more beautiful.

Nice. And thank you, Melissa.

Yeah. Hey, Melissa K. She better watch this.

Well, this is great. So, um, so Hassan, um, where can we learn more about, uh, Human Concern International? We'll learn more about you first, but where can we learn more about Human Concern International, maybe be involved as well?

Yeah, well, humanconcerninternational.org, that's their website. Um, you can also follow me. Uh, most of the stuff that is shared through them is shared through my page. Um, and, uh, Hassan Wadi on Facebook, Wadi Speaks on, on Instagram, and then LinkedIn, obviously Hassan Wadi as well. And that's where you'll find all the, you know, the Youth Speaker Academy, Human Concern International, City of Mississauga and everything else.

All right, that's great. And Youth Speakers Academy, because you, you were doing it live, but now it's gone because of coronavirus, it's gone online, it's become a global phenomenon. So you are working with, with kids from all over. Like, you were going to go— you were actually going to go to Ghana for this, were you not?

Yeah, so for Ghana, we were actually going to go to— because we had the kids raise $24,000 in the first session of theirs. The part of the program is leadership as well, and part of leadership is giving back. So I teach them the importance of helping others. So they all went out there and they raised money, and through about 150 students, we raised— they raised about $24,000, which is crazy. That's a crazy amount. And through the $24,000, we built like between 6 to 8 water wells around the world, and one of those was in Ghana. You know, we have our plaque with Youth Speaker Academy graduates 2019 on there. Again, Same with Syria. It's so that they can feel like their efforts, their hard work, like they see it in action and they feel like they're part of that. So we were gonna go to Ghana to see the water well, to visit the people and see the difference that it's made on their lives.

Hassan, this is a feel-right episode because I think what I'm hearing is that we are a global community and we want to feel, you know, for most of us, we want to feel a part part of it, and we want to feel that we're contributing to, to the humanity. And Hassan, I want to thank you for, you know, working with the youth and, and, you know, committing yourself to so many different organizations to, to helping, uh, helping the, the world be a better place, uh, and being yourself, you know, showing, getting out of your comfort zone consistently and consistently challenging yourself and challenging that, that self-talk. You're, you're leading by example.

I want to thank you as well, man. Thank you for having me, and thank you for giving us such an amazing workshop at City of Mississauga. And then, and actually, for all the icebreaker ideas that I used in Youth Speaker Academy. So, so thanks to you.

You're welcome.

You made that happen. Thank you.

You're welcome. Thanks so much, Hassan. Well, this has been This Feels Right, and we will see you next week. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for listening. And if this felt right and you would like to see this interview, then come on over to our YouTube page at youtube.com/thisfeelsrightpodcast. Or join the conversation with our Facebook group at facebook.com/thisfeelsrightpodcast. Or if you just want more influencing tips and communication skills, then please connect with me on LinkedIn, Joel Silverstone, or come on over to Silverstone Communications at www.joelsilverstone.com. I look forward to connecting with you.