Doing the Thing at 15: Derin Sezgin on Leading Global Change Through the SDGs

I do really believe 100% from every part of me that everyone has the capacity to be able to do the things that they want and not to be held back by the mental baggage that's in our head that we want to push through.

Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. In each episode, we get down and personal with people who go after the things they want to make all their wildest dreams come true. Join us as we unveil and dissect a formula for what it takes to do the thing. Here is your host, Stacy Lauren.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. This is your host, Stacy Lauren. Well, you guys, you are in for a massive treat, because I met my next guest when I was speaking at the United nations, and he was the one that was actually organizing the whole all of the speakers and making sure that we got in and really helped us feel comfortable with what we were doing, because it was a little bit of a madhouse that day, from what I remember. And he did it in such a gentle, kind of natural way. And I got talking to him and, oh, my gosh, the stuff that he's doing for the world and for kids around the world, it's beyond anything. And so I was like, oh, my gosh, we have got to interview you on the do the Thing podcast. Get your story. Because I'm just imagining for those of you listening, it's going to motivate you, it's going to inspire you and then potentially help you take action on the thing that you're wanting to do. So I am so excited to welcome Darren to the show. Hey, Darren. Nice to see you. Hi.

Nice to see you, too. And thanks for inviting me.

Yeah, I'm so glad. Thanks so much for being here. I loved getting to talk to you, and I'm really excited to hear more about your story and how you're doing the stuff you're doing, because it's so incredible when you meet someone that's a leader and especially with the work that you're doing and how you're impacting people. So I would love to start off and ask you about your story, because you're leading this SDG Youth Connect. You're part of this big movement. Where did that start? How did you get the confidence and the courage and all the things?

Of course. Well, since I was very young, younger than I'm now, I'm 15 right now, but I always wanted to change the world, and I knew that as someone who has basically lived in three places in life, and those three places being very different places. One being Izmir, Turkey, which is my motherland, and the other two being close yet very distant in the suburban town of Ridgewood, New Jersey, or the big city of New York City. So those three places have very different needs when it comes to kind of saving the world, or in that case, saving the city or town. And I really thought, when I reflected on my experiences in each and every single different one of the places I've lived in, I really just thought there has to be some philosophy or something we can all universally follow that will really try to bring and guide sustainability and guide bringing better peace, just having a better quality of life in these cities. And that's when I internally got to meet the SDGs sustainable development goals. And these are 17 goals that are created by the United nations in 2015. And these goals kind of hit on many different key points. For example, the first one, no poverty, well, self explanatory its name. But there are goals such as life on land, life on water, and climate change and climate action, and those kind of work on saving the environment. There are goals such as social goals, such as quality education, such as gender equality, reducing inequalities. There are also goals such as stopping corruption, such as the 16th goal, which is peace, justice and strong institutions. And I really realized that day, which was about when I was 11 or 12, these SDGs, if we follow them robustly, strongly, and without taking any shortcuts, could really lead the world to not just certain populations, but the entire world together to sustainability and therefore a better life for all.

So how do you think you went from the idea to actually action?

Well, yeah, so at that point, I was a middle school student and I really had fallen in love with the SDGs and just the idea of them in general. Yet, I mean, I think I was the only one in the entire middle school, including the teachers who even knew of them. So I think one of the most important things when it comes to the SDG in any really sustainability, environment, efforts, et cetera, is just awareness and education. Because no one can really take action or no one can have that realization that I had if they didn't even know what they were. So I kind of set out to change that. So originally, SDG Youth Connect, when I founded it, originally two years ago in 2023, it was just a simple game that I coded and it was just a little quiz game similar to the modern games like Kahoot, etc. And those games, there were just one or two. Those games just aimed to kind of bring some SDG knowledge tailored towards a younger population, specifically people in their middle school and high school years. And I also had included little information on each of the SDGs with a video and also some information on how you can contribute through, for example, passive contribution, which is what I term as donations, or signing petitions, or active contributions, which is more of taking your own action, joining a movement, et cetera. So since then, there was about a brief period of a year where I kind of thought, and this was, I think a mistake on my part, but I kind of thought that was it. As a 13, 14 year old person, I really thought that was all I could do in my capability and capacity to work for the SDGs. But now looking back, I see how wrong I was because just I think in July I kind of transformed my entire experience. So in July I was someone who still loved the SDGs and run clubs at my school and my previous school for the SDGs. But I really thought that that was basically the extent of what I could do. And then in July, I've had someone reach out to me from Nigeria asking me how they could help SDG you connect in kind of bringing their mission to everywhere around the world and kind of expanding the program. And once I heard that one response, my brain kind of just clicked. It set into place and I realized this can go much bigger than what it is right now. And it went from a simple few games and a website to a huge organization based in more than 35 countries at the moment. And we are really just trying to expand and find people from all over the world that want to work with us to expand our mission for the SDGs. And since then, since July, since August, I've been representing SDG Youth Connect at the United nations where I met you, and also multiple other forums and conferences. And I really tried to work on bringing attention to the idea that SDGs are important, but they're not important if no one knows about them. There's a fact actually that only 50% of the world know of the SDGs as of 2024, 2023. And that is something worrying because most of that awareness comes from developing countries where SDGs are worked on, thankfully. But many countries don't really have the capacity to fully enable the SDGs and fully take control of what they can do for the SDGs. And for example, developed countries such as the US such as many countries in Europe, North America, these countries have unfortunately been turning away from sustainability, the SDGs and the UN in general with the new government in the United States of America. We've really seen a dramatic shift in kind of the overall outlook on working for climate, working for sustainability in general. And I think this is very worrying because there was already very low amounts of understanding or even care for sustainability. And now with governments such as the us which is a very influential country in the entire world, with governments such as the US kind of shifting away from the sustainability and the SDGs, it really makes you wonder, is this going to just let the situation rest or is it even going to hinder it? Furthermore, making the percentage of awareness of the SDG even lower, that's incredible.

Being able to kind of see the world from a 10,000 foot view, like what you're doing right now and seeing what's working and what's not working and then you're now saying, look, we need to do this instead.

Yeah.

What do you think will help people kind of help with this? What do you think we should do?

Well, something that I at STG Youth Connect has been working on is making education awareness more interactive, especially for Gen Z and younger youth. And one way we've done this is through multiple different video games and also through their multiple different other videos and kind of engagement and courses we ran. And what the goal of all these are is we can really try to engage youth with these, I guess not old style methods of education because one complaint that I've heard from my own peers about learning about the UN SDGs, et cetera, is kind of lack of accessibility for it. I commend the UN and all the efforts they've made towards kind of bring making the SDGs more accessible yet. I just don't think that international cooperation on the SDGs is enough to bring that mission to use. Even in my recent high school, and of course I would know, but I would presume many colleges and other institutions for students SDGs aren't emphasized as much as they need to be. And I think that really every single place, city, wherever you live in, can in some way be connected to the SDGs. Because no matter how deeply you think about it, there's always a connection to the sdg. For example, places such as Sweden and Scandinavia, they are very high in many different ways on the SDG scales. And as we know also they're one of the most happiest countries in the world. Yet there are also existing inequalities in those countries in the sense that some of those countries don't really take in many immigrants or refugees and through there their other SDGs are boosted. But some SDGs are left behind. And you can also look at the flip side. Nations that are in current conflicts, current wars, they also, if they may even have some negatives in the SDGs, they also do have some positives, the SDGs over others. So it's never a swan black and white picture. And there's so many different aspects that have to be taken into account when you think of how can we make our nation, our country, our city, or even whatever you consider your community to be, that place better. So that's kind of the way that SDGs connect. And I try to do it by bringing the mission of the SDGs to others and empowering those youth to bring their story to the world and work on their story in their community.

Wow. So it starts with the story.

Yeah.

And then have you noticed people kind of the courage to tell the story?

Yes, I really do. And something that I've seen that really makes me very happy is that we receive the most interest by far from nations in Africa, which is really great to see as unfortunately, African nations are typically the nations that struggle more with Most of the SDGs and more underdeveloped nations. So it's really great to see that people and youth in those countries, such as Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Uganda, Kenya and more, the youth are very interested in making a change for the SDGs. And we've helped bring people to United nations forums to speak on their ideas and speak on what they've experienced. And we've also started to fund efforts. For example, we're creating a partnership with an AI powered art company in Africa and we're going to create a course which teaches youth how to create videos through AI and how to use AI to empower youth beside them who might not have the same opportunities as them and really bring the mission of SDG further.

So I'm just thinking it's like you've identified the gap, which is the not engaging people into action. Right. So you've created this interactive engagement system to help the youth be able to actually learn about the SDGs. And then now you're activating the countries by having them tell their story so that way they can speak on stages and different kinds of ways. And then that then gets people to want to donate or fund certain causes because if they didn't know about it before, then they wouldn't do anything.

Yeah. And really something else that unfortunately we have to accept is no matter how hard we try through our efforts, it will be very hard to reach the total of the global population. And one problem is the digital divide that we have now. Nations such as the us, China, and many nations in Europe are dealing with artificial intelligence and dealing with these very advanced AI models that we've seen do many great things, such great things for people, for the world. And yet on the other side of the coin, there is the environmental impact of AI and how AI uses really, really great and large amounts of water energy, which usually comes from crude sources. And another thing is, as I mentioned before, the digital divide. There is almost 2.6 billion people who don't have stable access with access or Internet, or maybe even a billion who don't have access to electricity. So something that I think is really important is just understanding and kind of acknowledging the fact that through the digital divide, you'll have to kind of bridge that gap. And you have to make sure and ensure that you have to consider the ethics of AI and how AI can help the SDGs and yet also hinder the SDGs and something that we consider SDG connect. And I think what something that you should consider globally is how I can kind of share my story, share my experiences, and share my resources with others around the world. Because there's always a saying that everyone starts off equally and everyone from birth has an equal path. But I think that's so wrong, unfortunately, because there's so many different disparities, whether it be socioeconomic status, whether it be inequalities based on gender, race, ethnicity. And working towards these is something that's very important if we really want to see a world of peace and a world without conflict.

So it sounds like I always like to look for the framework behind the system of what could really help the world based on your experience and what you've seen and researched. Because it sounds like you've done a lot. I mean, you're naming things that I don't think. I can't give a percentage, but a huge percentage of the population have no idea about. And so it's really great because you're studying this in a way, right? Because that's what you're so passionate about. And you're not just passionate from thinking of the ideas. You're actually taking action, which is really great. But I'd love to hear. So it sounds like we have, in terms of ways to be able to really create change. One is sharing the story, which kind of involves sharing the story, sharing the resources, sharing what you know and your knowledge. So then other people can be affected. And then is there something that should be before that in your mind, or do you think that's the first starting point?

Well, I think that could Be kind of the first starting point in the sense that towards and for the SDEs and for global sustainability, the first step is awareness. And then I would say the second step is probably advocacy and action in the way that to connect your awareness and really make it materialize after people are aware, there has to be an incentive, which I think there is right now, for action. And right now the Sustainable Development Goals, or also called the 2030 Global Agenda, have less than five years to be completed. And unfortunately only 50% are close to being on track, with 35% having stayed still since November 2015. And with 15% even have worsened in the last 10 years. And this fact is kind of frightening in the sense that right now things such as climate change are becoming more urgent and urgent problems such as corrupt institutions and corrupt governments are becoming more and more problematic. And there are so many problems that we can't really put a pinpoint on how to solve because there's so many different aspects that play into them. And that's why I and my organization love to emphasize how SDGs should be that framework, that reference guide, I guess you could say, for every single problem. Because if you can relate it to a few, the United nations is very open to advising these things. For example, in July I attended the United Nations High Low Political Forum. And during this forum there were many countries who stepped up and decided to share their voluntary national reviews. And what these were was basically a kind of four year report they collected from 2021 to 2025 on what they've done for the SDGs. And these reports were, I really congratulate all nations for their progress in the SDGs. But yet these reports also showed that unfortunately some SDGs were at a standstill and nations were refrained from acknowledging that. And I think some of the most important things is not only acknowledging your successes, but acknowledging, but also acknowledging your failures. And something that I really think is needed if we want to move toward international cooperation. And really dismantling these silos that happen in the world is sharing and being transparent with all SDG data and with all information that can relate to sustainability and health kind of environments or eradicate poverty, hunger. And so something I believe personally is one of the main issues that the United nations has is the Security Council having the permanent five members and the veto. And a big problem with that is if only one nation who objects to this, for example, plan or whatever it may be, or if it's like an intervention for war, if only one nation rejects it, the entire hours, even weeks, if not Months of work is thrown out the window, and all of the comprehensive planning from many different sides is just kind of disposed of. And that is unfortunate, the reality for so many different resolutions at the United nations, because what happens internally at these very many conferences is that nations and organizations and nonprofits, civil society organizations, private sector companies, all these organizations come together to discuss really big things when it comes from sustainability to wars to recent earthquakes or whatever it may be. And all of this action, all of this kind of suggestions and promises to do something can be thrown out the window if one of these five Security Council nations of France, the uk, China, the US And Russia, if one of those five nations just decide to throw everything out the window, they're able to. And I think that's very problematic because we've seen this happen recently with Israel and the USA in the Security Council. We've also seen this in many different other wars that have happened where, for example, for the Russia, Ukraine war, since Russia is on the Security Council of permanent five members, no resolution was able to be passed that would help bring humanitarian aid to Ukraine and similarly to Palestine during these times of conflict. And no matter who you support or who you think is the right side in the war, which I don't think there is any in any war, but whoever you think is on the right, no matter what, you have to realize that it is an essential human right to give people access to food, access to water, access to education, and not attack civilians during these times of struggle and times of war. And we've seen this happening, and we've seen multiple violations of essential human rights in the wars around the world. And that just makes you think how useless the United nations has been deemed in these past few years because of the unfortunate lack of cooperation from nations and also the additional kind of lack of power that the UN has due to the veto law created in 1945 in San Francisco.

And so it sounds like what you're doing with SDG Youth Connect is you're helping people by creating awareness about the SDGs, and you're then helping them advocate into action by being able to even create these interactive educational experiences. So people are starting to learn more in a way that their brain can hear because we're so attracted right now. And it almost sounds like too, you're trying to break open the silo by connecting people together more, too.

And as I mentioned previously, the only way that things such as the veto law at the UN or major governments can kind of falter on what they stand on or how the world can Change things for human rights for the SDGs and for the world is by mass action advocacy protests. Because this is a form of non violence, it's sort of a non violent saying of no, I will not stand by and watch this happen. I will and we must do something to change this. And once more and more people acknowledge that and more and more people in whatever way they see fixed. Of course not everyone is going to be that advocate. Not everyone's going to be the multimillionaire who can donate. Everyone has different perspectives, different lives, different backgrounds. But in some way, due to the Internet, due to just the sheer amount of people on this world, on this earth, people can contribute, whether it be through what I'm doing, creating organization, helping out people, learning, awareness, or it may be just a simple donation, or it could be advocating at the UN other conferences, or it could be, for example in your community bringing attention to the local council, for example, about a certain topic. And I think the most important thing and powerful tool that these actions and protests have is in our youth. Youth is really something, and I'm talking about it not really as individual youth together, but as this kind of object or unified entity of youth and young people where all youth and young people around the world can really just advocate, work towards something where they believe can really help the world. And even if people may not feel as comfortable for them going to the streets and protesting, as I said earlier, all advocacy forms take different forms and one way. And one thing that unifies them is working under a common topic and really trying to change the world in whatever way you can.

So I have a process that helps people. I mean, you heard part of it with the talk, but for anyone listening, it was basically, I run these challenges and I have people that run the challenges and then I train people to do them and they help people take shared action together. One of the challenges that I have, it's called find your voice, although the name changes depending on what group it's in. Because it's really like a community creation, engagement process. But it helps people get more confident and courageous with sharing their story. Because I found that it's really easy to want to keep our knowledge inside our head, right? That's the most untapped resource is the stuff that we know because we're scared to put ourselves out there. We're scared because we don't know what we're going to say or what people are going to think or being judged and all the things. And so I'm just curious if you have any thoughts about that. Because right now I'm actually expanding and putting these challenges inside of corporations and organizations everywhere. Just if you have any thoughts about that in general.

Yeah. And I think everyone around the world, wherever you're from, in some way or form, have learned kind of the phrase, if you don't have anything good to say, don't say it. But you're not trying to do something malicious or trying to hurt someone, I would believe. Just say it. Because who's going to judge you if you say that you don't believe in this or that? You say that this is right, not that. The emphasis that if sustainability is going to work in the world, the one thing that they really need and that the world needs is these discussions, are these debates and kind of conferences. And this is where, for example, organizations such as the United nations could come in, bringing people and perspectives from all over the world to do something about it and kind of unite on one single resolution or topic, et cetera. And when all these perspectives unify, that is when change can happen. And this goes out to anyone listening or really anyone in the world, just say it. Like the Nike slogan, just do it. But for, let's say the SDG Youth Connect slogan, just say it and work towards whatever you believe is right. Because instead of complaining or instead of relying on your local policymakers or governments to do the change, you can take action. You can take a stand and push for the change yourself. And then that is really when governments, policymakers, the world and nations leaders, everyone will see and watch while you are really doing what you believe is right and working towards something that you believe is good for the world.

And is STG Youth Connect, Is that a nonprofit?

Yes, we are a United nations civil society organization. And we basically are in the process of being incorporated as a UN official recognition nonprofit.

That's exciting. Congratulations. So you look to, are you looking to raise money or does it get covered with the United Nations? Is that a thing?

So unfortunately, due to the funding cuts that the United nations have received, that kind of the money that United nations can give becomes smaller and smaller. And something that I believe is very important is how SDG Youth Connect can raise money. And we've been applying the grants and really asking many people in our organization to kind of spread the word because every single dollar, lira, naira, euro, wherever you're from, every single currency that someone can give, it will contribute. So it's so important to. And this goes to anyone who's looking to found their nonprofit, or even if it may not be official nonprofit A little absence stint or whatever it may be. One of the most important things is funding in my eyes, because so many things in the world need funding. Even if you may think and if you may believe that this is something that's universal. Unfortunately, to really put your idea out there, you can use social media, you can use things like that. But if you want to make real change, I would say start without funding. You can definitely start and that's how I did without funding. And start really doing your best and then recognize that at a point to elevate your organization to that next level, to that level where you believe we can make the change, be announced to the entire world on a megaphone. That's where you can kind of start incorporating funding and ask for donations, et cetera. And at the moment it's harder and harder for organizations based on sustainability and climate to gain funding from governments. Yet there are so many like minded organizations out there and Internet governmental organizations or bigger nonprofits that will be more than willing to really fund something that is working towards the world. And so never feel like you're a nonprofit or even if you're trying to fund yourself for your own events or wherever it may be, never feel like you wouldn't be worth it for them at the moment. Everyone who works in SDGs, everyone who works for climate or whatever they believe in, and if they're really passionate and do it to be bettering the world or bettering whatever cause you care for and fight for, that is when people will find you invaluable and really help you.

I have a new funding model. I'll share that with you at some point. But it's exciting where I think it's going to innovate the way nonprofits get funded or really any meaningful cause get funded through helping people through these both charity auctions that I'm doing and then also do the thing challenges. So super exciting. Oh my gosh, Darren, this has been amazing. Thank you so much for coming on. I'd love to hear to close this out. What is your number one piece of advice for people on doing the thing?

Well, definitely for doing the thing. Don't even think, don't take that. Should I be doing this? Because if you're passionate, if you really care about what you're doing, just start. Because when you start doubting yourself or when you start not believing that you can make change, that is something that so many people around the world fall at. Because there are so many people around the world, and I truly believe it, that really do care for the world and yet are not able to do much because of either their situation or they're just more commonly their lack of belief in themselves that they will be able to make a change. So always go in confidently believing that if I do this and if I work towards this with full passion and with well, management, I will be able to do it. Even if in reality it might be a question or it might be a possibility in your mind, it should be a hundred percent chance or a must and will eventually hopefully do it. And that is kind of doing the thing. And really thank you very much for having me in this podcast interview and to everyone else listening, believe in yourself and trust me, you'll be able to do it.

Please share with everyone how they can learn more about SDG Youth Connect and follow along with your journey.

Of course. So we are on Instagram, LinkedIn and we also have a website SDG youthconnect.org and to reach out to me, just my first name last name so Darren saysgin.com and besides that. Anyone listening, thank you so much for listening. And of course Stacey, thank you so much for having me on the podcast.

Thank you so much. And do the Thing. Don't wait for opportunity, create it. And hey guys, have you checked out my Facebook group yet? Go to do the thing collaboration.com thanks.

For listening to the do the Thing podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. But even more, we hope you'll be inspired to do the thing. The do you have a burning question on Doing the Thing that you'd like answered? How about an inspiring do the Thing story of your own that you'd like to share? We'd love to hear all about it. Just leave us a voice message at dothing callcast co or email us@helloothethingpodcast.com.