Sonia was found shivering at the entrance to Henry’s foundation on one of the coldest days anyone could remember. She was suffering from hypothermia and had lost a finger and two toes due to frostbite. When she was released from the hospital, she became a resident at the foundation.
She was immediately adopted by her fellow residents, especially Kashana, one of the older residents. When Henry asked Brianna to write Sonia’s story, he said: “I’m very proud of Sonia, and she has the potential to be one of our best-known residents.”
What Brianna discovered when she talked with Sonia was a passion for weather. Rather than using her experience with cold weather as a frightening experience, Sonia became fascinated with weather locally and globally. She was addicted to the Weather Channel.
As she and Kashana were hanging out, they started thinking about a weather app for children. Kashana’s talent was in app development so this was a natural area to explore.
Sonia came up with an idea for KidAct, a website where children could share ideas about what they could do to limit carbon emissions. This led to a number of other features, such as local climate stories that children could share with each other around the world.
In just one year, KidAct had become very popular among young people who had an interest in climate issues. The app had already begun to influence businesses and policy makers. One of the most effective app influences was a carbon footprint analysis of popular purchases of young people. Sales of high carbon footprint products had seen a dramatic decline.
Brianna was amazed by what Sonia and Kashana had been able to accomplish in just one year. That got her thinking about her own work. Up until now, she had mostly focused on stories of those who she felt others would be interested in. “Why not tell stories of those making a difference,” she thought. “Especially those whose potential was just emerging.”
“Again,” she thought. “Henry was still opening up possibilities for her long after she had left the foundation.” Now she began to realize the full scope of what it would mean to be Henry’s successor.
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“Please think about your legacy, because you’re writing it every day.”
– Gary Vaynerchuk (Entrepreneur, Author)