Pause and Reflect

The sound of Ed Sheeran gently wakes me up to a cold, dark morning. It's 6am. I roll over and reach for my phone. A quick check of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp and I feel up to date on my friends' lives. I open a few articles on my news feed about another Syrian atrocity to which the world is becoming alarmingly accustomed. My heart aches. As I glance at my clock and realise 15 minutes have passed, I sigh to myself and finally pull myself out of bed for another day at work. This has become my routine every morning. I have a wonderful life and I should be grateful for the trajectory that my career is on and the opportunities that brings. However, like other millenials, this often doesn't feel like enough. My grand visions of building schools in India seem so far away. Whilst I'm helping the feminist agenda, breaking glass ceilings in the corporate world, and trying to be a role model for young women, part of me yearns for more. Some days that is the desire to do som...

Hong Kong is one of my favourite cities. There is just something so wonderfully unique about this tiny, bustling metropolis. The bright lights, constrasting against the backdrop of towering hills, draw me in from the moment that I land. The obsession with food, shopping, and "fro-yo" projects a very endearing air. I thrive in the buzz of the city. I love the place. Beneath all of this, however, the real intrigue of Hong Kong lies in the island's powerful identity. Nothing embodies this more than the pictures we have seen these past few weeks. In Hong Kong, you have a city that is so incredibly proud of what it has become, and so incredibly proud of what it now is not. This is not a city in China. This is Hong Kong. Its own place destined to be separate from the constraints of Beijing. A democratic city where its residents are free to express their views. An important and influential financial district, which gains increasing international importance with each day. The U...

I spent a part of my summer this year debating feminism with some friends. Sitting on a veranda in beautiful Hvar, these girl friends of mine passionately spoke about their point of view that women are still suffering from fewer opportunities in our day-to-day life. As they spoke, I could see that unspoken thought in our male friends' eyes: here go those man hating women on their rant again. I carefully listened to what the girls had to say, but I couldn't relate. I have always considered myself a supporter of feminist movements overseas, as I believe women definitely do not have equal rights in developing countries, and that must change. Girls don't have the right to an education, girls are not accepted in families, girls are forced to marry young, girls face sexual and physical abuse. The list goes on. One only needs to look at all of the media coverage coming out of India recently to see that basic liberties for women just do not exist in these countries. But here, in t...