S1, E3: Gen Z in Corporate Impact- From Brazil to Building Sustainability Programs

[00:00:00] When I graduated, my job didn’t exist. So I’m the first person to have the job that I have today. And I only graduated four years ago, guys. Like I’m not saying like, you know, 30 years ago, this job didn’t exist. It was only four years ago. And I could have never imagined that I could have had this opportunity.

Did you know the average person will work 90, 000 hours in their lifetime? What if you could use those hours to find fulfillment? And become a disruptor for good. Welcome to the work that’s worth it podcast. I’m Georgi Enthoven, and I’m here to demonstrate that an ambitious, meaningful and rewarding career is not just a dream it’s achievable.

Each episode, we’ll dive into conversations with global change makers who cracked the code on combining income and impact. If you’ve ever felt like you were torn between a paycheck and your purpose, or maybe you simply yearn for more purpose, you’re going to be exposed to the. I’m going to be talking about how to make your work worth it.

Let’s get started[00:01:00]

today. I’m excited that we get to talk to Luiza Araujo, who is a social impact and sustainability practitioner based in Toronto, Canada. She graduated from the McMaster University in 2020. With an interdisciplinary degree in arts and science and commerce, and shortly after started working in the financial services industry.

In the first three years of her career, Luiza was part of a rotational program at her company, which allowed her to work in different functions across the business. Luiza then landed a role in corporate sustainability, where she is now a manager of social impact strategy. Luiza has been passionate about the role of business in addressing social issues and considers herself lucky to be able to explore that in her work every day.

Luiza, it is so nice to see you again. Thank you for being here. Thanks so much for having me, Georgi. It’s such a pleasure to see you again, too. Yeah, I am excited [00:02:00] to hear about what you’ve been up to lately and what makes your work worth it. Absolutely. Yeah. I can share a little bit more of where I am today and then we can dive a little bit deeper of maybe how I got here.

I think the answer to the question of what makes my work worth it is a little bit of a long story because there’s a big personal side to it. And then obviously the more of an impact systemic side to it. That’s the personal side. So whatever you can share and will be helpful. Yeah, for sure. So maybe I’ll go back to actually when I was studying in my undergrad.

So I’m from Canada, we call it undergrad college in the US. When I was in college, I studied an interdisciplinary program that looked at humanities, it looked at sciences, it was very liberal arts esque. We also often explored social issues, global issues, but we never really talked about business or capitalism as a potential tool for addressing these issues.

We also Often talked about it being a problem. So capitalism caused this. Capitalism caused that. Business caused this, etc. And I also [00:03:00] already find that really interesting because for us, we saw capitalism as a negative thing, but I thought, you know, where’s the money? Where’s the power? Where’s the influence?

And that’s all typically coming from corporations. From lobbyists, et cetera. And so I ended up doing my undergraduate degree in humanities and sciences and business and commerce. So I did a little bit of everything and I really wanted to kind of meld all of these topics together and explore very tangibly, how can we use business, corporations, et cetera, to address social issues.

Because I really do think there is a way and so for me, I straight out of undergrad or college went into a traditional corporate job because, you know, making money and financial stability was really important for me. I’m an immigrant, I did want that stability, I wanted that in my life. Where did you emigrate from?

I’m from Brazil, so much warmer than what I’m feeling right now here in Canada in the middle of the winter, but I’m from Brazil and so yeah, financial stability was a big part of that. Graduated straight into a [00:04:00] traditional corporate job and obviously found myself feeling a little bit empty. Not fully satisfied after a few years, and I was presented with this opportunity to work in the role that I work today about three years into my career, which is that I’m a social impact strategy at corporate sustainability team at a large insurer and asset manager.

And for me, the reason why this work is worth it is firstly from the personal side. Because it’s a very tangible manifestation of what I was so intrigued by. Can we use corporate structures and corporate systems and business to tackle social issues? How do they interact with each other? Where is the opportunity for us to do better?

And so this role really explores that and I was so intrigued and I’m consistently intrigued and how we can really make that come to life. And then the other part of it, obviously, the social impact side of it, the systemic side of it is often think about where is the opportunity for us to. Find more resources to address these problems.

And like I mentioned, I really do think business and corporations have so much power and influence and [00:05:00] resources that even if we’re able to funnel a tiny fraction of that, and I don’t even mean in the philanthropic way, philanthropy is very important. I really do mean by the core business into addressing social issues and positively impacting society.

I think it’s worth it. And so for me, it’s really being in that space where we’re exploring how do corporations tackle these issues? Can we do it in a positive way? And how can we maybe start to actually reframe the role that these corporations can have in our societies? So it’s a very academic, high level exploration for me, but I have found it to be really, really meaningful.

That’s fine. Yeah. So just light stuff, you know, like what’s the meaning of life? No problem. I do sometimes spiral. There is existential crises from time to time, but it’s exciting. I do really enjoy it. But this is so exciting because you are a young professional who is already taking the time to be reflective and Understand what is important to you and think about how can you [00:06:00] find a work environment that mirrors what you want to explore personally and also give you the financial stability that you need.

I mean, that’s really, I find that many people, I’m a Gen Xer, many people in my generation, we got into our career paths because there was openings in a job and then we sort of stuck with it for quite a long time and got good at that particular thing. And, Many people I talk to that are of my generation who have not found and did the reflective work end up what I call on the wrong ladder.

And then it’s very hard to switch at a later stage. So I think it’s wonderful that you are doing this self reflection and internal curiosity, exploring what you really care about at a young age. Yeah, I think, so my generation, Gen Z, we might have heard, like you might have seen studies, et cetera, about what Gen Z really cares about, and I do think we often see this narrative or this discourse that Gen Z is really much for the environment, addressing social issues, social justice, et [00:07:00] cetera.

And so it was very much like a natural part, even I think about my friends in different social circles, et cetera, for us to really think about, we want to do work that’s good for the world and it’s good for society. I think the question for us is really like, how can we do that in a sustainable way?

Sustainably, I mean, financially and for our lives, because especially in today’s climate, we increasingly seen like difficult cost of living situations, both I think across the border in the US, but here in Canada, high, high cost of living. We think about the future 20, 30 years down the line. Just gonna get more expensive.

And so even though we do have maybe these more idealistic aims for our careers, we are very much grounded by the reality of living in this economic environment. And so for us and us, I speak very generally for my whole generation, we do really live on that tension. And I think it was prominent. Like, we didn’t have to start working to realize that it was before we even enter the workforce that We were grappling with that tension between, you know, making the positive impact and making a stable income.

Like, [00:08:00] it’s very difficult. I think that all that makes sense. And actually, that’s the work that I am truly passionate about. And I do believe that I have talked to, well, I have talked to so many people in your age range that cares about the work that they do. And I truly believe that your generation is going to change.

impact and the corporate responsibility or corporate good that the millennials change for mental health. And I do believe that your generation is able to do that because so many people care about it. And it seems like the issue kind of is, how are you able to look after yourself as well as do the good you want?

And then on the other hand is feeling, well, having strong feelings about the world you’re being handed. And the responsibility on their shoulders, yes, costs and expenses are way higher for your generation comparatively, and you’re being handed a world that doesn’t afford you the same luxuries that my generation did.

You know what we’re doing to the planet and to [00:09:00] humanity. So, it’s heavy. It’s definitely heavy. I think, yeah, for my generation, I think, to your point, the mental health, I think we inherited the mental health part from the millennials before us, where we do want that work life balance. We want the ability to be able to live our lives beyond just work.

Compounding that by wanting to do work that’s meaningful and valuable and sustainable and then wanting to also make a stable income in today’s economic environment can feel like insurmountable. You’re like, this is just not possible. Like, I am just, I’m just a dreamer. This is pie in the sky thinking, but like, I mean, one of the reasons why I’m here, I do think that I’ve been able to unlock.

A little bit of that to intersect those three circles in a diagram where I do feel like I’m in a position where I have economic stability, I have work that’s meaningful, and I am able to find work life balance, but it takes time to get there. I do think that a lot of people my age and younger than me, like coming out of undergrad or college, feel the pressure to be able to figure it out right away.

Like, they’re like, I need to get this kind of job where we intersect the three circles, like right away. It’s, you know, [00:10:00] September after I graduated and I’m in that career in that environment. That’s not realistic. It takes time to get there because to your point, you need to do that internal self reflection and you just need to kind of navigate the environment.

I think the other part too that I’ve come to realize is when I graduated, my job didn’t exist. So I’m the first person to have the job that I have today. And I only graduated four years ago, guys, like I’m not saying like 30 years ago, this job didn’t exist. It was only four years ago. And I could have never imagined that I could have had this opportunity.

And so, you know, giving myself the time and the space, you know, in the long term, I want to land there, but I have to kind of navigate this little corporate world a little bit before I land there was important. It was really valuable for me. And also realizing that if you do want to work in like the financially stable space, you end up typically in very traditional large corporations where you have some of those lower risks.

Corporations are not totally there yet. But they’re getting there. So you might not have that job and that opportunity today, but we’re seeing that shift towards thinking about, you know, how we can positively impact climate, how we can positively [00:11:00] impact society. But a lot of them, we’re just all trying to get there.

We’re just starting really. It’s very nascent. And so it’s also about just that patience and less pressure on yourself to get it right away. And realize that everyone’s kind of catching up to this right now. I think that’s so parallel in what I’m hearing and what I usually recommend for young people, which is the early part of your career.

If I had to give one word to say, focus on is experiment, because this is the time where you have the flexibility to go and find things that light you up, that feel right is the right combination of good for you, good for the world. And later it just gets harder. So I love that you shared that experience of.

It’s not always obvious. And also I find that young people also going from learning to earning. So from university to actually working, very few people actually have the confidence yet that they’re going to be able to make it. And so sometimes it takes that first job to say, I can actually do this. [00:12:00] And now I can actually think about.

How I want to do it. But at first I just needed to know that I can do it. And so I think even that first job is just a critical piece in building confidence. Yeah, absolutely. So I don’t know if I have this right from when we met, but I seem to remember you telling me you were on a training program. And I don’t know if it’s where you were at or a previous company, but you did a rotational training program, which I thought was such a great way to experiment.

So I don’t know if. You’re nodding your head. So I’ve got the right information, but maybe you can tell us a little bit about that experience. Yeah, exactly. I was just thinking of that, as you mentioned, the importance of, of experimenting. And so coming out of this undergraduate degree or this college degree, where it was very interdisciplinary, you know, looking at science, humanities, commerce.

I’ve always been the kind of person that liked a lot of different things. I would say I’m a generalist, not a specialist. I still feel this way. And so when it came time to select my career, quote unquote, you know, fourth year university selecting your career, I [00:13:00] was more attracted to things that gave me flexibility.

And so for listeners who are maybe not familiar with this, a lot of corporations offer rotational programs. Sometimes they’re called leadership development programs for recent grads. And so many different large banks, insurers, et cetera, have that out there. And it basically offers you the opportunity to move throughout a business.

But having this leadership development support throughout your time in this program. And so what I did in my fourth year of my university degree is I ended up getting the opportunity to sign on to a three year, what was called a leadership development program and theory. It sounded like a really long time, but it was not a long time at all.

And essentially what I did was I worked in three different areas of the business, the business that I still work in today, completely different areas. Every year we would switch. You had no say in what area you would end up. You didn’t know when you started what the three areas were going to be. And I just got a lot of sorting hats.

Like you just got a hat and you had to go with it. [00:14:00] You just had to run with it. And so I ended up moving through marketing operations, product development, and so many different areas peripherally throughout the business. And honestly, you completely agree with what you said, Georgi. It was the best experience I could have had to start off my career.

I learned a lot of fundamentals about The different key parts of running a business, the foundations of my industry that really set me up to succeed in the role that I have today working in sustainability and social impact within the business, having that business background is so fundamental to the success we have today in our work.

And so moving through that program was very, very valuable. It also taught me, which I think was important that the traditional business. Functions were not for me, so I loved being there. I loved working through it. But at the end, like I said, I got a little bit of that feeling that I wasn’t completely satisfied.

Like there was something else I could reach for. And that’s when I started looking for roles within my company that had a strong element of, you know, [00:15:00] impact or social impact or environment, et cetera, that I thought would more better aligned with what I was looking for. But I would say I didn’t start my short career being like, I’m going to work in sustainability and social impact.

I just started my career quite open minded, but knowing that eventually I wanted to explore that intersection of social issues and business. And I was very lucky to get the opportunity to do that. But yeah, I had to move around first. In addition to being a generalist, it sounds like two of your other great skills are, one is you have an imagination for what could be, and two, flexibility, so you can adapt to things, but also adapt to what may not even exist.

I think that’s one of the key things that you do have to kind of sit with and sit within if you’re willing to want to explore the intersection of having the. social value, environmental value, and the financial value in your job is ambiguity, is risk, is this, I don’t really know where this [00:16:00] is going to land.

And so I think being in this program where I didn’t know it was going to be thrown at me, allowed me to definitely develop the skill of flexibility. And I really like to think about it as just being able to sit with the unknown because I just didn’t know what was next. What was my next job for a year?

Didn’t know. That’s fine. I’ll handle it. And building that conviction, which I think you talked about earlier, that you can in fact handle it. Like, you can manage it. Like, it’s going to be okay. And it takes some time to develop that conviction and that feeling. And I do think in the world of, if listeners are keen to explore corporate sustainability, explore creating impact through traditional corporate systems, you’re going to be faced with a lot of ambiguity and a lot of unknowns.

Like I said, a lot of corporations are still figuring it out. A lot of things happen, come left, right, geopolitical risk, reputational risk, et cetera, that make your work pivot very often. And so you have to be comfortable sitting in that space of pivoting every day, dealing with the unknown, not knowing exactly what your job might look like in a year, but knowing that you’re going to be able to handle it.[00:17:00]

Relate so much to that because when I started out my career, my first sort of real job after graduating college was working in technology and marketing. And what I remember is feeling like, although I didn’t have a lot of experience, nobody ahead of me had experienced. And so it was sort of early days and definitely.

With companies having web presence and building any kind of technology on the web. And so what was empowering about that is you could be really young and the most experienced person in the room. And it sounds like you are experiencing that as well, which is a great opportunity for someone who is young to.

quickly garner enough experience to be taken seriously, to be given interesting projects, and not have to wait your turn and sit on the ladder for a long time before you actually feel in the zone of using your full intelligence. Yeah, absolutely. I would agree with that. I feel very privileged to be early in my career, but have The [00:18:00] feeling like I can have great impact in my organization and that’s also a shout out to the culture that my organization has built.

I think culture is really important when you decide where you want to land and work, but I do think you’re absolutely right. Like these corporations are, like I said, figuring it out, trying to see what they want to go and what they want to do next and where they want to have the impact and people coming out of undergrad and college.

Like we didn’t have masters of sustainabilities. We didn’t have these degrees like 10 years ago, but a lot of people had them when they were ample talent, you know, out there. And so you are bringing a really fresh and unique perspective and you’re going to be treated it as an internal subject matter expert.

Like they’re going to come to you for the questions. It is really exciting. It also simultaneously puts a lot of pressure on you. Like I think we talked earlier about like, these are really big questions. Like these are really big topics. They are, and you feel like you are managing them. So it’s also very important as always to make sure you’re not taking care of yourself, making sure you’re not putting too much.

pressure on yourself, but I am very thankful to have that opportunity. And I will say also being in a development program, whatever that might look like for [00:19:00] yourself, kind of catapults you into more leadership positions and more of an opportunity to be able to make that, that impact and have that influence.

Yeah. And when you were. in university. Did you go through any program or were there any resources offered to you on sort of self exploration of understanding what are your strengths, talents, skills, and what were you exposed to? Yeah, that’s a great question. When I was in college, I was terribly concerned that my degree had to be useful because I very much, again, was very preoccupied with this immigrant pressure of having to have a good career and all of that.

And so I did spend, just within myself, I would say, I didn’t use any external resources reflecting on what would make my degree quote unquote useful, meaning marketable in the job market. And so I did kind of pick and choose. These different combined degrees, which were an option in my university so that I could build a degree that really aligned with what I wanted to explore.

I would say I [00:20:00] enter this phase of more reflection of my values, et cetera, when I was really early in my career. So once I started with the company that I’m at, because again, I was just really keen on finding that security, which is quite important to me. And then once I found that security, my brain was like, Oh.

Now we can kind of, like, think about what we wanted to instead of just finding something that, you know, will make us feel financially secure. And so once I was in that environment at my company, I did start looking a lot for, like, can I get a career coach? Like, what are the resources? And what ended up happening was that I found myself not having a lot of supports and Granted, I did enter the career, like the workplace when I, in 2020, like nobody knew what was going on.

It was June, 2020. Everything was virtual. I’d never worked a real, like real job in my life. It was very overwhelming, but I felt very isolated and not really guided through this career process. And so what I ended up doing was myself and one of my colleagues actually co founded an employee resource group at our company for [00:21:00] emerging professionals.

And so really the goal was to create a community environment where we looked at people who were really early in their careers and were asking themselves this question of. Well, what do I want to do? And what do I value? And where do I find that? Because we just kept hearing that from everyone around us.

Everyone felt a little disconnected from their work, from their themselves, from each other, given, you know, the COVID environment, but also this inability to go from, you said, learning and earning in a giant complex organization. Like, it’s very daunting. And so we established this network to really create this community.

And it looked at Three main pillars. And it was professional development, personal development, and innovation. And it was really about intersecting those three parts so that we could help other employees that were emerging, find a place where they really, really, really felt like they were happy with their work.

So maybe the answer is I didn’t have the resource, but I went ahead and created the resource and it was really, really rewarding. It’s still one of the most rewarding parts of the career I’ve had, but I would really [00:22:00] emphasize connecting with others in your organization, I think is. extremely important. I went on a bit of a coffee chat spree when I was in my second year of my career.

I love that, the coffee chat spree. Yeah. The year of the coffee chats. It was, I did a lot of them in one year, but really with the goal of curiosity. So I didn’t come at it because I think people often think of coffee chats and networking as like, I got to get a job. I’m getting a job. I’m selling myself, which puts a lot of pressure on you as an individual.

But if you come at it from a place of curiosity, like I genuinely just want to learn more about your job, like about what you do and how you relate to your job, it creates a much more comfortable open space for you to relate to others. And so that engagement of meeting many, many people across my organization indiscriminately, it didn’t matter where they worked, I just wanted to learn a lot about my organization really helped me ground myself on.

This is the things that I want to keep working on. These are the things I don’t. I love that. I love the idea of sort of really building the connections. And I also love this idea of [00:23:00] you going on these chats without an objective other than to learn from individuals that are, have come before you and are, have navigated some of the challenges you may have navigated.

And so many people only network when they need something. And it sounds like one of the pieces that really allowed you to feel relaxed and comfortable and hopefully bring it out in the other person is that you weren’t needing something. You were building a relationship and exploring what a great year objective to go and have these coffee chats.

And then you build a picture of what is ahead for you and the organization as well. Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s the part can be very daunting. Like I said, if you do end up working for an organization that has a lot of different areas, et cetera, you don’t even know what you don’t even know. Like you, we don’t even know what’s remotely available and what will be valuable to you.

Like what would make you feel like you’re making that positive social environmental impact, but also find that financial stability that’s unique to you, but you need to go out there and explore. You just got to put yourself out there. [00:24:00] Yeah. It’s daunting. I love also these different examples that you’re giving because Believe it or not, I have had conversations with young people and also CEOs of large companies saying, young people are asking, what’s the rubric to get promoted?

How do I get, like, what are the steps I need to do to get promoted? And After university, there is not a rubric, there is choose your own adventure. And a lot of the times it’s raising your hand or creating the space, looking for an opportunity and also finding what’s not existing and building it because it means something to you and hopefully means something to other people.

And I love the examples you’re giving it because you just took the initiative. You had a need and you took the initiative and it served you, but it serves a purpose beyond you. Absolutely. Yeah. I think for me, like the guiding light. That moves me to take these initiatives is always the ability to like give back and connect back to community.

There’s so many ways we can do that, right? Maybe it’s not you have this super cool job where you’re [00:25:00] managing a huge fund and maybe it is you support a bunch of emerging professionals in your organization. That’s how you start connecting with that part of yourself in the professional world. Like, there’s a lot of different ways to start exploring that, but I will absolutely echo also what you’re saying, Georgi, about not having.

A blueprint or a road map. I think that’s another thing that will come if you do end up exploring a career, you know, in the intersection of the corporate world and social and environmental impact. Because again, it’s so new. So I can’t go and look at the other manager before me and ask them, you know, how did you get to director?

There was no manager before me. There was no team two years ago. And so you have to, like I really said earlier, sit with that ambiguity and sit with that unknown and just. Again, have the conviction that you’re going to be able to chart that own path for yourself. But I completely agree that you got to raise your hand.

You got to put yourself out there because no one else is reading any blueprint. They don’t have it. No one has it. So you’re kind of making it for yourself. But I absolutely think more so than any, not any other, but many other careers [00:26:00] in this space, we find ourselves not 30 years because it’s going to look really, really different than what it does.

Hopefully much better. Yeah. Lots of focus and opportunity in this. Yeah, on a side conversation before the podcast, you mentioned that you were already going back to your university to talk to some of the students there about your path. And I love that you are already giving back to not just the people that you’re working with in your work environment, but you’re going back to where you studied and you had these questions.

And I want to know about how that went and what you learned and how that was for you. Yeah, absolutely. So I got to go back to my university actually this week for a class that they have in my degree called alumni experience, which is very much about bringing in alumni. Of all ages, doesn’t matter, all industries back into the classroom to share and give back to the students that are currently in the program that I was in.

And so it was a really interesting space and [00:27:00] time to be in talking about sustainability in the classroom. I mean the students are almost the same as we were as i’m sure they were 20 years ago. Just so excited and so eager to learn more. But the overarching theme that we heard was very much unsurprisingly what we’ve been talking about which is This desire to do something meaningful, but not knowing how to get there unless it’s very much like non profit, etc.

It was a desire to have that financial stability, but just not knowing how to figure it out. And we also heard a lot from students, topics around Immigration and having that financial pressure and parental pressure, I mean, here in the area that I live in, in Canada, we have lots of lots of immigrants and often what we hear about students ask a lot of questions about that.

And we actually had some really interesting conversations around when is the right time to quit something and pivot and take that risk. And so it was really great to hear. That question, I’m sure it’s very daunting for them, but knowing that something isn’t quite right for you, and how do you, like, work up the [00:28:00] courage to, to take that next step, and I think that is very much in line with, with, like we said, you start somewhere, you know, it’s going to be a journey, you have to be willing to pivot.

to quit and start something new. So those were some of the topics that came out. It was a very rewarding experience and we’re lucky to be alumni of a program that really centric, but I do think these issues and these topics we’re talking about is still top of mind. They haven’t figured it out yet. We are still all figuring it out, but it’s great to be able to give back.

Yeah. Luiza, do you have any resources that have been particularly helpful for you, either in building a department of sustainability in a larger organization or books you’ve read that have been sort of career development have helped you or even just a philosophy of something that has shaped how you think?

Yeah, great question. So one of the books that actually comes to mind if you’re ever keen to develop a career that is global in nature and you’re looking at global issues and you want to address that it’s actually called The Culture [00:29:00] Map and it’s a book that is talking about working. In business in many different cultures and cultural context.

So it’s not necessarily sustainability centric, but I think if you want to be a professional that’s able to flex and engage in different cultures and really to create meaningful change and address issues meaningfully, we have to put ourselves in the context of the places in which we’re trying to address those issues.

It’s a really great book for that introduces a lot of. Interesting concepts about how you can communicate information effectively in different cultures, influence effectively in different cultures, engage mostly all in a business, business, corporate context. So it’s a really great tool that I used. The other thing I would recommend that I really benefited from in.

The later half of my time in this rotational program is getting a career coach. And at the time I thought career coaches were like, like for executives and stuff, like only, you know, very high up people that had really intense careers. And I was like, I’m not worthy of a career coach. So early into my career.

But I was very lucky that my organization and I know many organizations [00:30:00] do offer like complimentary career coaching, like shorter form, it may be, et cetera, but they do offer those kinds of career resources. So I worked with a coach for about half a year as I was trying to figure out this big next step that actually landed me in the position that I am today.

And I found it extremely helpful. It was just like a sounding board for me to start exploring these questions of what we had talked about, you know, around values, like what really matters to me, what’s negotiable, non negotiable, how do I want to position myself, et cetera. I had a really great interaction with my coach and it was really helpful for me.

So I would encourage listeners, especially if you’re, you know, feel like you’re too early in your career to do that. It’s never too early. And there are many resources that are. more accessible out there than, you know, executive coaching that is worthwhile to explore. So, yeah, great. I love all your feedback and ideas, and it’s just been such a pleasure to get to talk to you.

I knew when I met you, I was like, aha, I’ve got to get her on the podcast. She’s going to be great. So [00:31:00] I’m just so happy that we got to pick your brain and understand where you’re at. And I really am grateful for the time. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thanks, Georgi. It’s been a pleasure. I’m excited to check out the book and hear the other episodes as well.

Yeah, great. Thank you. Take care. Me too. Bye. As we wrap up this interview, I want to leave you with these thoughts. When it comes to making an impact, your young age can actually be your superpower. Louise’s story beautifully illustrates how being young in the sustainability and social impact space means you’re not Bound by the way, things have always been.

In fact, she created a role that didn’t even exist four years ago. The corporate world is just beginning to figure out how to address social and environmental challenges, which means young professionals can shape these solutions from the ground up. So don’t wait for permission to lead. Your fresh perspective is exactly what’s needed right now.

There’s often an unspoken pressure in impact careers to reject traditional corporate [00:32:00] paths, as if making a difference requires sacrificing financial security. But Louiza’s journey shows us a different way. Her choice to start in an established corporate environment provided the stability she needed as an immigrant while creating a launching pad for meaningful impact.

To my Gen Z listeners, your generation has an unprecedented opportunity to reshape how business intersects with the social good. Louise’s approach to experimentation, from her rotational program to her year of coffee chats, shows us that finding your path doesn’t require having it all figured out from day one.

This is your time to be curious, to try different roles, and to sip with ambiguity, and to discover what truly energizes you. Whether it’s starting employee resource groups or pioneering new sustainability initiatives, there are countless ways to make your mark while staying true to your values. The key is to remain open to the possibilities that might not even exist yet.

And that’s [00:33:00] a wrap for today’s episode of Work That’s Worth It. Remember, every conversation we share is designed to empower you to build a career that’s truly worth your time and energy. There are future disruptors out there just like you who would appreciate the conversations in this podcast. Please support me by spreading the word and sharing this episode with a friend or two or visit my website at georgienthoven.com that’s spelled G E O R G I E N T H O V E N. com. Until next time, ask yourself, what problems am I solving and are they worth my valuable time? Your intentional choices today can lead to exponential impact tomorrow. Thanks for listening!