CURATOR (HUB LEADER), World Economic Forum Global Shapers
The Global Shapers Community, an initiative born out of the World Economic Forum, is a network of hundreds of city groups ("hubs") from over 170 countries. It is developed and led by purpose-driven young people who are diverse in expertise, education, income and race, but are united by their desire to bring about change.
From 2013-2015, I served the hub’s curatorship (leadership) in The Netherlands (Amsterdam). The hub had only existed for about a year before I joined, so there was a lot of opportunity to help lay the foundations for the group to be able to thrive in every aspect.
In this role, I took responsibility for a variety of activities, including:
Clarifying, in a highly participatory way, the basic foundations of the hub (ways of working, governance, shared vision on impact themes, project criteria and guidelines);
Overseeing the hub’s overall activities: ensuring that events, meetings, recruitment procedures, internal and external communications and other ongoing activities ran smoothly;
Creating learning & development opportunities for the hub’s members: from a media training by Edelman to inviting interesting guests to come engage with the group;
Catshuis Residence session organized by the Global Shapers and Social Enterprise NL to familiarize Prime Minister Rutte (The Netherlands) with social entrepreneurship, bringing along seven social entrepreneurs.
Developing and maintaining external relations: from the World Economic Forum to the press, and from partners to mentors;
Initiating and leading the Global Shapers campaign (involving 13 hubs from nearly every continent) in support of WakaWaka’s initiative Solar for Syria
Advocating the importance of policies that support social entrepreneurs, by engaging seven of them in a presentation and thorough dialogue at the official residence of the Prime Minister Rutte of the Netherlands (pictured above).
“It is always a joy and privilege to work with Paulette, with whom I teamed up during our years of leading the World Economic Forum community of Global Shapers in The Netherlands. If you want to get a complex, strategic and tough job done, go to Paulette. She has an unparalleled focus on results and impact. Together with her powerful intellect, stamina, strategic insight and interpersonal skills she achieves her objectives. She is a true team player with whom you will never have a dull moment. Finally, she is an authentic and charismatic person with a natural flair for leadership.”
Photo credit: Inge van Mill