Carla Cuglietta, co-founder of We Stand and volunteer extraordinaire, is an inspiration to youth and her peers. Carla exhibits passion for giving back, both locally and globally, and epitomizes Global Leadership. She is a proponent of social change and is now focused on youth leadership in Edmonton, as she returns from China’s We Stand Summit and prepares for the We Stand #YEG Summit on April 13th. She is also part of the #YEGFORWARD Movement, a peer-to-peer group that enables young professionals under 40 to give back to their community while incurring leadership skills.
Juggling a career, a husband, and her extensive volunteer work, Carla epitomizes service and care. Thank you Carla for taking the time to share your past experiences abroad, your upcoming adventures and how you do it all!
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I am 37 years old. I am one of 5 daughters to 2 amazing parents. I am super close with my sisters. I am married to one of the coolest people that I know. I love to be active, travel, and spend time eating great food with great people.
I also work as a Religious Studies teacher and a Service Coordinator for St. Joseph’s Catholic High School. I have been lucky enough to teach in China, Sierra Leone and India as well.
You are renowned for your extensive volunteering and leadership in Edmonton and around the world. What sparked your interest in helping others?
My service work was definitely rooted in my Christian faith but I was inspired to get on a plane for the first time by a documentary that I saw on TV. There was a story of a lady who moved to Mexico from the USA when she came across children that she found abandoned at a garbage dump. She sold her home in the USA to buy a property in Mexico big enough to adopt all 64 children from the dump. Well, I needed to meet her. I bought a plane ticket and went out to her place to help her with the kids for the summer and with her crops. She had 82 children that year and I spent the summer volunteering at that wonderful home.
How did you prepare yourself to make this journey?
You’re never fully prepared for your first journey, but you can do things to lessen the culture shock. One memorable thing that I did to prepare is I enrolled in a one day ‘bug and rodent therapy’. I knew working near a garbage dump, there would be a lot of little creatures that I was not used to encountering. Sounds silly but this was actually super helpful.
I want everyone to see themselves as people who were put here for a purpose and to have clarity and motivation to live a life they can be proud of.
Can you share with us some experiences you’ve had volunteering abroad?
I went with my friend Miranda to Mexico to volunteer to help with the kids and the crops at the orphanage. The next year, we got a group of friends together to build sidewalks at an orphanage for children with disabilities. The owner for the orphanage himself with a paraplegic man and would ride around the grounds on an ATV. We enlisted the help of locals and paved sidewalks for children and adults to get around.
In El Salvador, I went to learn about fair trade. I learned from farmers how damaging it can be when people on our side of the world buy things like sugar without considering how the people who got you that product are paid. This was an eye opening experience.
In 2007, I went to India for the first time to consider working with water. Once you start to work with water, there is no turning back. The most basic need that almost 1 billion people have trouble getting to every day. We started to ask our friends and family to fund the bio-sand water filters and provide micro-finance loans to women in rural villages. It was amazing to see how many people generously stepped up to the challenge and they have continued to do so each year since.
In 2009 and 2010, the Canadian Teachers Federation sent a team of us to Sierra Leone, Africa to pilot a Peace Program for teachers. This was one of the greatest joys of my life. Working with the teachers in Sierra Leone to help them develop the skills they need to manage a classroom without using violence. We worked hard to rewrite the curriculum to include peaceful practices, reflect gender equitable language etc… it was such an honour to be a part of that program. I returned in 2012 to continue our work.
In 2010, I also moved to Shanghai, China to work as a service coordinator for students attending international schools.
What advice would you give someone interested in volunteering abroad?
I would say that it will be one of the biggest life shaping experiences of your life…do it! The hardest part is mustering up the courage to go for the first time. Find an organization that you trust and a culture that you are interested in learning from and go for it!
You are currently part of the core team for WE STAND. Can you tell us about this project?
I joined forces with Tyler Waye and Sheldon Smart to start WE Stand. WE Lead. It is a Leadership Summit for students aged 15-20 that helps them develop their leadership capabilities so that they can use them for positive change in their local and global communities. Basically, “get good at being you, and then work to give it away” In its first year, WE Stand attracted over 1500 students to the Summit. We are looking forward to our 2016 Summit this April. We have since been asked to bring the Summit to Shanghai, China. WE Stand. WE Lead. We just launched in China!
Lastly, we are working with 10 young leadership all-stars in Edmonton who have shown incredible leadership skills as well as a passion for social justice. We have started the WE Stand. WE Go Program. These students meet for bi-weekly leadership coaching in the areas of personal, local and global leadership. The program ends with leadership trip to India to work with clean water initiatives and micro-finance loans.
I have learned that this generation is awesome. They CAN work hard, they DO love others, they DO care about what is going on around in the world around them.
What was the biggest challenge in getting WE Stand off the ground?
The biggest challenge was the time frame. The idea of WE Stand was born in November and it launched in April. It was no small task but a lot of super talented professionals in Edmonton from production crews, venues, dj’s, event coordinators, keynote speakers, etc… all stepped up to do exactly what the spirit of WE Stand is: get good at being you, and then work to give it away.
Where do you see We Stand in the next 5 years? What is your plan to get there?
WE Stand hopes to be able to expand to get the message, energy and vision to other cities around the world. Getting the message of living a life that has focus and purpose out to as many young people as we can. We hope to be able to provide ongoing Leadership training to young people who want to move in that direction.
What inspired you to become a proponent of social change?
The desire to help others is rooted in my faith. The Christian faith tries to follow the lead of a man who dedicated his life to service of others, equality, respect, acceptance and love. That was my inspiration all those years ago.
What types of change do you hope to inspire?
I want everyone to see themselves as people who were put here for a purpose and to have clarity and motivation to live a life they can be proud of.
What have you learned from the youth of Edmonton?
I have learned that this generation is awesome. They CAN work hard, they DO love others, they DO care about what is going on around in the world around them. We just need to make it relevant to them.
If you could chose one thing that you would hope would result from your community involvement, what would it be?
Purpose. I would hope that young people would understand that their gifts and talents were always meant to be shared with others. That life has always been about community. Always.
How do you find the time to balance your personal life with all of your projects that you have on the go?
Well, the greatest part is that I have friends, and family that are all interested in the WE Stand message progressing. So a lot of the ideas are born and progressed while hanging out with people that I really like. My husband and I both work on WE Stand together so when we are needing to put in all of those hours in the evening, it is something that we can work on together.
Exercising daily. Physical activity has always been a part of my life. Making sure that I work out every day, or at least most days, has been really important part of how I can manage my stress levels when it all seems like a lot going on at once.
Food. One of the only things that I love as much as travel and helping people- help people, is food. I make sure to get together to enjoy good food with good people at least once a week.
I guess I am able to stay balanced because all of the things that I love the most happen to be what helps keep a person in balance.
What would you tell someone interested in volunteering but hesitant due to their schedule?
I would tell people to volunteer in the area that is related to what they already do for a living or what they love to do. If volunteering is in no way tied to the things that you are interested in or passionate about, it can seem like an extra ‘thing’ tacked on to our busy schedules. If it is part of your purpose and passion, it is actually something that gives you energy when you do it.
What is essential to your morning routine to help you keep energized for the day?
I wake up, shuffle to turn on my latte machine and head into my prayer/meditation room. There, I thank God for the opportunities of a new day and try to meditate for a few minutes. I make a promise to myself to live today on purpose and then after that, I sprint to my coffee machine and make myself an espresso!
Then I have breakfast with my husband, watch the BBC to find out what is happening in the world and we car pool to work together.
I get to work, check emails and try to manage all the stuff going on in my day.
Exercising daily. Physical activity has always been a part of my life. Making sure that I work out every day, or at least most days, has been really important part of how I can manage my stress levels when it all seems like a lot going on at once.
Are there resources or an app that help you in your daily life, or help you stay organized or in check?
Yes, I use an app called todolist. It helps me fire through a lot of little things that might in other cases get missed or pushed aside. I love lists and I can definitely say that I would not be able to do all this stuff without them.
If you had to pick a favourite place in Edmonton to take a breather, let loose, or to soak up the city, where would it be and why?
Definitely, the rivervalley. We have made it a priority to always live close to the valley so that we can drop in there and get a refreshing jog or bike ride in at any time. Every run I think to myself “as if this is right outside our door.” We are so lucky in Edmonton to have such an amazing place to recharge.
What do you do to unwind after a long day?
To unwind, I like to cook and enjoy my food with other people. I find cooking really relaxing and I definitely get energy by being around a lot of people.
If you had to leave a personal mantra or words of personal advice for our audience, what would they be?
My personal mantra would be for people to live a life that is fully alive and that almost always involves a life that is connected to and helping other people.
