Steve (host):
Welcome to the 14th edition of Wonderspace which was originally released as a video orbit on the 7th of December 2020. Since then we've been asking the same 6 questions to people from around the world. Our questions revolve around life and wonder, places of reset and stories of hopefulness, which I think we need more than ever. The setting for all of our interviews is a virtual window seat on the space station from where we see everything from a different perspective. This week our orbit takes us over North America and joining us in this ultimate window seat we welcome Chidi Akara in New York.

Steve (host):
Chidi has spent most of his life in creative direction and brand strategy for some of the world's leading brands and is also on the board of an amazing nonprofit impacting the lives of millions of people as you will hear as part of his story of hopefulness. I start by asking Chidi, from this window seat 250 miles above earth, which place, city or country would you want us to fly over and why?

Chidi:
So this is probably not gonna sound extremely exotic but I would probably choose London. I have spent most of my life in London. However, I moved to the US about 12 years ago, and I haven't had a chance to visit London much, but so many of my memories are deeply embedded in the fabric of that city, the neighborhoods, the flavors, the culture, the multicultural mix. And honestly, even though I love living in New York I think my heart is always somewhat in London and therefore that would be a place I would definitely want to fly over and enjoy.

Steve (host):
Chidi, give us a glimpse into your life story so far with an emphasis on what you are doing currently.

Chidi:
So, my life story so far, I was very fortunate enough to be born in the Bahamas and the Caribbean. I've lived in 4 different countries but most of my life has been spent in the UK, but more recently in New York. I was really fortunate to start working for a major advertising agency in London called BBH. At a very young age, I was heading up the Levi's advertising account when that was 1 of the most awarded and celebrated campaigns in the world at the time. After about 10 years or so in advertising, I pivoted to photography and really just wanted to focus on a more personal creative journey.

Chidi:
And that took me through for another 8 to 10 years, at which point I moved to New York and was able to pivot back into advertising. And then eventually started working in-house for Nike overseeing a shoe brand that they had at the time called Cole Haan as creative director. And at the moment, I have moved into the tech space and I'm working with a company called Stash, which is an American digital platform, which is really trying to help everyday working middle Americans invest and save better for the future. So it's an investment platform. And it's an amazing opportunity because I'm able to use all of the training and the skills and the experience and the gifts that I've been able to acquire over the years in advertising and branding and apply that to a very missionally driven company.

Chidi:
The sum total of my life has just been the love and the support and the encouragement that's been poured into me by incredible people that has allowed me to get to a place in life where I can use my creativity and my creative vision and skills to really help lift up communities and businesses and for goodness into people's lives as much as I can.

Steve (host):
Where on earth is your place of reset or recharge?

Chidi:
My place of reset and recharge is being near the ocean. I grew up about 10 minutes away from the sea. And whenever I want to escape from the hectic nature of cities, I love to retreat back to the ocean. The sense of space, the sky, the sounds, the scents, it allows me to think more creatively, it empowers me to think more freely and it brings a certain peace to my soul and my spirit that often can be somewhat elusive within the madness of city life. So as much as I love cities, my ultimate reset is to spend time near the ocean either alone or with loved ones.

Steve (host):
What wonder of the natural world excites you the most?

Chidi:
The wonder of the natural world that excites me the most is probably tropical rainforest. I have never been to a true tropical rainforest, but there's something about that beautiful aspect of nature that predates humankind, that feels primordial, that feels like a totally immersive, sensorial experience, that feels totally detached from what we built up as a civilization. That would be a dream for me to spend time in, let's say, the Brazilian rainforest and really fully encase myself in the raw natural beauty of nature in a way that's disconnected from everyday life.

Steve (host):
Chidi, what is your story of hopefulness that's not your own? About a person, business or non-profit who are doing amazing things for the world.

Chidi:
My story of hopefulness for a non-profit or a personal organisation that's doing great for the world I think really centres around an organisation called Charity Water. Charity Water is a nonprofit that's based in New York City but operates around the world. It was founded about 14 years ago by an incredible visionary entrepreneur called Scott Harrison, who's also a close friend of mine. And I've had the privilege of sitting on their board more recently, but I've been a fan and a supporter since their inception. And Charity Water essentially exists to solve the clean water crisis around the world.

Chidi:
The fact that 1 out of 10 human beings on earth do not have easy regular access to clean water. And we know that that has significantly negative effects on health, on education, on economic development. And over the last 14 years, Charity Water has succeeded in raising half a billion dollars from scratch and has funded almost 60, 000 water projects that has positively impacted 11 million people around the world, mostly in Africa and Asia. And what's amazing and special about Charity Water is that they are committed to full transparency, not just in terms of their fundraising and allocation of funds, but also tracking the progress of projects months, years down the line to ensure that benefit is still being delivered to those communities. And every single dollar that is given by the general public, all of that money, 100% of it, goes to fund the actual water projects themselves and isn't used for overhead or administration.

Chidi:
And that's pretty unique in the world of nonprofits. So I think Scott, his team, all of the donors over the years have done an incredible job of basically inciting a spirit of generosity. Because I think that the vision of Charity of Water is not just to deliver water projects, which is obviously fundamentally and critically important, but use that as a means to inspire everyday people around the world to think about how they can best serve their neighbors and those among us who are weak and marginalized and vulnerable and suffering. So I think Scott's vision is very much, how can I ignite a spirit of generosity that then becomes viral and empowers people to think, what can they do to actually help improve the human condition?

Steve (host):
Finally, as we prepare to re-enter, what insight, wisdom or question would you like to share with us?

Chidi:
The insight that I would most like to share is that I think that 2020 has been a tremendously traumatic and in many ways destructive year. But I also think that it gives us a moment to sort of pause, step back from the furnace and ask some fundamental questions about what it means to be a human and what it means to live in a community and society. And I would love to see us get to a place where we are less divided by ideology and politics and more united by a common sense of what it means to be a human being and try and find more common ground that can actually serve as a unifying force that helps us emerge from these current crises with greater humility, greater compassion, and a greater sense of empathy. And hopefully this sort of toxic shock that's taken place to all of our international systems can trigger a new way of relating and finding common ground instead of trying to divide it along political, partisan or ideological lines.

Steve (host):
To see some of Chidi's photography and creative work, go to chidiakara.com. In his story of hopefulness Chidi spoke about the amazing work of Charity Water which you can find at charitywater.org. If you want to find out more about Wonderspace, join the community or listen to the previous episodes, the website is ourwonder.space. I want to thank Chidi for being with us on this Wonderspace orbit and I hope you can join us again next week for more wonders and stories of hopefulness.