Nazra - 00:02
Hey everyone, my name is Nazra. I'm a Canadian Gap Year Ambassador and I'm so excited to be talking to you today. I'm going to be making a series of videos to help you decide if you want to take a Gap Year and then also sharing some pieces of advice for your Gap Year journey as well, especially advice and pieces of wisdom that have come from my own Gap Year journey, so make sure to subscribe to this channel so that you don't miss out on any of these informational videos.
Today, I actually just wanted to say hello and introduce myself to you. Again, Hi! My name is Nazra.
Nazra - 00:35
I took a Gap Year during 2018 to 2019 from the University of Toronto for Computer Science and it was genuinely one of the best decisions I made ever, I'm so glad I did that.
During my Gap Year, I actually got to do a series of really cool things. I joined this educational startup called the Knowledge Society and I actually joined the team as the first person who just came out of high school and learned so much during that year, I went from knowing basically nothing and learning how to send a calendar invite one day to managing a portfolio of 1000 schools.
I actually ended up managing by the end of the year all operations to help scale TKS, from Toronto to New York, Boston, Ottawa, Vegas, which was such a big deal and so intense and an amazing learning experience aside from working at TKS, I also travel during my Gap Year.
So I did a trip across Canada. I went to Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Vancouver for the first time, which is really cool. Also Calgary. I also traveled overseas for the first time too. I went to Lisbon for a conference. I was speaking at conferences like Elevate, which is Canada's largest tech festival and honestly just like really getting a good sense of the real world, which is so cool.
it's been a few years now since I've taken my Gap Year and currently I am working on my own climate startup, called the climate crew.
Nazra - 02:02
It's a community of young people and experts who really are coming together to figure out what we need to be doing as a world to push decision makers to be making the right decisions surrounding climate change.
This year we're working on climate policies. Next year we're going to be doing some climate consulting, which is really exciting.
I also just spent a few months of this year living in LA and making some art and hanging out with some artist friends which is a very unique and interesting experience. Everything that I'm doing right now honestly cannot have been possible without my Gap Year.
Nazra - 02:32
I am so glad that I took it, but it was definitely a very unique and interesting journey. It came with a lot of great experiences and overall has been so, so like immeasurably positive, but it was still a very difficult decision to make.
So you know, if you're in a position right now where you're confused about your Gap Year, you don't have plans for your Gap Year. You have no idea what you're going to do or what you want to do, don't worry, I got you.
We're definitely going to do this together and help you figure out how to really make the best out of your Gap Year and to also make the decision of taking a Gap Year if that's what you really want to do.
Nazra - 03:09
One of the difficult things about my Gap Year was definitely trying to get my parents on board and trying to help them support me in making that decision. During my Gap Year, I really got to dive into some mental health issues and really try to take care of myself and learn more about myself, so it definitely had a few downs as well.
Through my Gap Year, I got to understand the world so much better myself, so much better. I really got to pave my own path for what I wanted to do. Even though I was a little nervous going into my Gap Year coming out of it, I definitely could not have seen myself making any other decision, and I'm so glad that it went the way that it did.
So I'm really really, really excited to share some of those lessons and some of those helpful tips that I got when I was taking a Gap Year talking to some people about it.
Nazra - 04:25
I'm excited to share some of these things with you. I'm excited for the journey that you're about to go on! It was so nice, saying, hello. I'm glad that you got to know me a little better. Again, my name is Nazra. I'm going to be seeing you in a few other videos.
Make sure to subscribe to the CanGap Association channels so that you don't miss out on any of the amazing content that's about to come to your way.
Make sure to check out the description box below for some free and super helpful resources to help you out with your Gap Year journey. Alright, you'll catch you on the flip side.