While 2016 was a very challenging year in geo-political terms (to say the least) professionally, I feel I own it an official thank you! The highlight of this year was defiantly founding Ms. Catt. and joining the Gather fellowship by Seeds of Peace!

Another meaningful highlight was embarking on a new adventure at HPE Software. There, I found a home at the Innovation Program were I'm the Global iCoach Program Manager. This great position allows me to implement Lean Canvas methodologies to enterprise products and share the Lean gospel with passionate innovation enthusiasts. This did, in turn, mean I had to leave the amazing Wikistrat team, and mentors,  however I was super excited to join Wikistrat's analytic community and become a Contributing Analyst. 

This came at a time when I finally (after about 20 attempts that felt like 200) finalized my thesis question. While I don't yet have an answer to the complex question of: what accounts for boarder stability in post conflict zones based of behavioral economics theories? I'm sure I will soon(ish).

My social innovation path also had some great highlights- I got to represent AJC's women's parliament in Kiev and introduce some great new guests to our House of Genius in Tel Aviv. While funding is always a challenge I admit that securing some funding for the Israeli UWC National Committee was extra rewarding for me!

This year also had some unique speaking opportunities - the highlights were defiantly the Seeds of Peace annual Gala in New York and the Gather Fellowship event in London.  My favorite consulting projects were for the Pears challenge, focusing on India, and ETI, focusing on China. Finally, teaching this year was also super fun as the A3i fellows were incredibly inspiring  and the Mashav team, in Belarus, was super interesting to work with.

So - thank you 2016 and, 2017 here I come!

I just got my video documenting the peer-led-session I presented during the ROI 2015 Yearly Summit.
Title: How to think like a design thinker - get inspired, "ideate" and implement new ideas

"Design thinking is neither art nor science nor religion. It is the capacity, ultimately, for integrative thinking" - Tim Brow (my guru). 

I have to admit it's very exiting to be featured in the The Huffington Post with the one and only Ruba Huleihel. 

I want to thank Seeds of Peace for being my second family and GATHER for giving me the opportunity to learn and teach at the best conference in the world! 

"Though our political leaders have yet to bring freedom, prosperity, and stability to our region, we are not waiting"

Application central - post #4

My spirit animal is Pushkin's storytelling cat. The cat described in the opening poem of the book Ruslan and Ludmila tells tails when going to the right and sings songs when going to the left near his post at the shore of Pushkin's magical land.

I believe that stories and storytelling can serve as key tools in convening deep and complex massages be it a brand new idea or an innovative vision. Stories help us verbalize our dreams, feeling and fears thus giving us the powerful and at times healing ability to share them with others.     

Application central - post #2

This, for me, is the most difficult question to answer: I'm passionate about a large variety of issues and am involved either through my work, my study or my volunteer positions in women empowerment, peace building on economic bases, social innovation, development of under privileged communities, children's rights, civic action among immigrant communities and so much more.

 If I had to choose 3 major fields of interests it would have to be: economic growth, social entrepreneurship and women's empowerment.

I've been a passionate feminist with great interest in women empowerment from a very young age and over the years I've been involved and a post – colonialist feminist study group, volunteered for Saleet (an NGO helping women trapped in prostitution) and founded the Women's parliament to further this agenda. 

My passion for social innovation comes to light both in my daily job and in my volunteer work at TedX Jerusalem. In both these organizations I get to help social innovators from all over the world – giving them consultation and tools through PresenTense and giving them a platform for exposure through TedX. 

Finally, I strongly believe that financial and economic tools can change social – economic status on the level of the individual, the community and the country and have seen such change in action during my work with the ultra-orthodox community. 

Application central - post #1

Where would you place yourself now in your professional or personal journey?

And there are so many stories to tell, too many, such an excess of intertwined lives events miracles places rumors, so dense a commingling of the improbable and the mundane! I have been a swallower of lives; and to know me, just the one of me, you’ll have to swallow the lot as well. (Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children)

I chose the path of politics, public diplomacy and conflict resolution as much as it chose me, many years before I was even born. The path was being paved for me for over a hundred years and now I feel I must follow it – letting it guide me but also continuing to pave it forward as I go. The first step was made so far back in my family’s history it cannot be traced exactly, yet it seems that the first traceable step in my fate’s journey started in 1917 with the Pogroms in the Ukraine.

The next steps were the Holocaust, the fall of the Soviet Union and Ukraine's independence and my family immigrating to Israel. My steps as a teen included growing up during the second intifada in Jerusalem, becoming a proud Seed of Peace and a student at the Mahindra United World College. As an adult I started adulthood with two years of army service as the Director of the Russian Branch of the IDF Spokesperson Unit. My media skills led me to take the first steps in the world of media where I worked for five years.

My path has now led me to the PresenTense and the sphere of social innovation. I know that the next steps will be three fold – professional, academic and personal. In my professional track I strive to create my own venture and am now working on 2 technologic start –ups. In my academic path I aim to create a new methodology to create and analyze threats. In my personal life I wish to make a change in the social and political environment in Israel. I wish to do this through entrepreneurship, innovation and economic development. I have seen the tools of entrepreneurship; professional networking and mutual economic dependence create meaningful and long lasting connections between people of different religions, nationalities, colors and genders where many other methods have failed.       

I, Alina Evgenivna Shkolnikova, later variously called Alina Shkolnikov, Ilana, Bazooka and even Commander, have become heavily embroiled in fate – at the best of times a thrilling sort of involvement at the worst a humbling association. I have been a swallower of lives; and hope to continue on that path. 

* Application was written while still working for PresenTense. 

 

After a long MIA on - I'm finally back.

While I was gone I got the chance to apply (and get accepted) to a few different programs and projects. All with very long application processes that required a lot of writing. 


In the next few blog posts I would like to share some of my answers on my blog.   

You probably won't get too much use of this post - it doesn't teach a new tool or exposes you to a new trend but it does give a sneak peak into one of my favorite addictions - the weekly top 5 column on ICE.co.il. Every week the best commercials in print and video are published on top 5 and so I religiously tune in to watch them. Yes, I am one of those people who loves commercials. Why? check out top 5 an you'll see.

But for now - 3 reasons I love cars (and the #1 reason I'm in love the Van Damme)