IDEO.org 2012 Fellows Application

Phase One Items:

• Short Essay on Experience with Other Cultures (500 words):

 

My name is Arturo and I am a Designer. I was born in a middle-class family in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico.

 

Since childhood, my Mother taught me to be of service to others, to do so with respect and humility. Not even three generations before me, our family lived in extreme poverty. As my parents moved from small towns to Guadalajara, this provided my two sisters and I a unique ground to have access to better education and eventual professional opportunities.

 

My childhood was enriched with the life lessons of my extended family in the country side, and the city life I grew up in. I don’t really consider their life, apart from me, or to be “outside of [my] own”, they define me.

 

If there is a word that defines me, that word is Curiosity. I have always liked to ask, ask often and then ask some more. It was curiosity that led me to learn English, then French and even German. This Curiosity was fed, lovingly, by my parents and coped, intensely, by my sisters.

 

Because of curiosity, I was able to experience cultures outside of my own at the age of 17, when I started my University education in the United States of America. In the following 11 years, I expanded such cultural experiences in a study abroad to Germany where I also visited over a dozen other countries in Europe.

 

At 25, I lived 110 days in a cruise ship that was, in essence, a floating university that traveled through Greece, Portugal, Panama, Ecuador, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia and The People’s Republic of China. In each country we engaged in academic programs, service programs and in-country projects with international organizations. In my particular case, as part of the Intercultural Communications group, I participated in Ecuador in a joint UNDP & UNICEF program. We explored for the period of a week the existing vaccination program and the human rights task force for the rights of children in Ecuador.

 

You can see what we did here:    http://www.tinyurl.com/soyecuador/

 

In Panama, I witnessed first-hand the effects of climate change, deforestation and natural resource management in the cloud forests. I opened my eyes to how the Embera, the indigenous population in Panama, had been relocated for such resources.

 

The voyage aboard the MV Oceanic II, among 200+ young minds from 47 countries and speaking 25+ languages helped me define my passion: Connecting People.

 

In almost three decades, I have not for once forgotten where I come from and where my family comes from.  It is an exercise of constant awareness and of alignment of my core values and beliefs.

 

It is because of my passion and my curiosity that I believe in people and not for one second can we achieve human happiness without one another.

 

• Open IDEO Profile & Participation:

Click on this image to open my openIDEO profile page.

Phase Two Items:

• Letter of Recommendation:

• Short Video Story: