August 5th, 2011, New York, NY
The 9th Annual UN Youth Assembly at the United Nations
I had the honor of being invited to attend and participate in two youth conferences held at the United Nations this August. And, I had the honor of being surrounded by the game-changing ideas and insanely productive conversation of teens and young people from around the world. I was like a proud stage mom watching and listening to all of their amazing ideas and conversations. I caught myself at times trying to catch the eyes of other adults in the room to share the, "Hey did you hear that?", head nod, and that "I wish all the adults in the world could be here to experience this force", eye wink.

Over 600 young delegates from all over the world came together to discuss and interact about all things MDGs (Millennium Development Goals), hosted by the Friendship Ambassadors Foundation (FAF) and the International Youth Council (two Coalition Partners of We Are Family Foundation's Three Dot Dash program). This year, We Are Family Foundation was invited and honored at the assembly for our achievement in Youth Leadership. I had the honor of speaking to the assembly about the importance of the youth voice and how Three Dot Dash Global Teen Leaders are making significant impact within their communities and tackling the MDGs. Five our of Three Dot Dash Global Teen Leaders were recognized for their contribution to Humanitarian Development: Adele Ann Taylor; 2011 GTL, Bilaal Rajan; 2011 GTL, Tanvi Girotra; 2010 GTL and Shannon McNamara, 2011 GTL. The keynote speech was given by our very own Muhamad Iman Usman; 2011 GTL (see his personal blog and speech here), who was also recognized. I was honored to be on the panel with FAF's own Patrick Sciarratta as well as Ambassador Lorenzo to close the Summit with such a powerful force of young leaders.

There is nothing more exhilarating than being in the presence of over 600 people who are driven to make this world a better place. Nothing is more gratifying or electric than to be in the epicenter of the world, the United Nations, with so many motivated and driven individuals from different cultures, religions, colors, backgrounds and life experiences, who not only care about our future, but are doing something contagiously positive for it. It just so happens that they are all under the age of 25!