Diving into their second week of fellowship after an impactful first week with GREEN Hospitality, the fellows of our 2025 Summer Impact Fellowship Program identified their personal motivations and values at a workshop while gaining essential human skills through their placement at Gowld Art Centre (GAC), an FSI community partner and a social enterprise, which nurtures the body, mind, and spirit through arts, fostering creative confidence, holistic growth and love.
Learning About Personal Motivations and the Importance of Empathy in Design Thinking
We started the second week of the Summer Impact Fellowship Program with the Personal Motivations and Wider Perspectives workshop to help the fellows understand their individual drivers, motivation theories, the neurochemistry of reward, and the important role of empathy in the design thinking process of social entrepreneurship.
Fellows delved into the heart of social impact by first connecting with their own motivations and values. They then practised empathy by immersing themselves in a dynamic role-play exercise, stepping into the shoes of various stakeholders with potentially conflicting interests. The workshop underscored the importance of grasping the full context in social entrepreneurship and appreciating all viewpoints to effectively define and tackle the root causes of social issues and the barriers hindering progress.
Making Art Accessible to Everyone
Through their week-long placement at Gowld Art Centre (GAC), the fellows gained hands-on experience in promoting arts education and community engagement, effectively contributing to the social enterprise’s mission to make art accessible to everyone.
Under the guidance of Kaisha Woo (Founder and Director) and Jason Cheung (Director), the fellows supported class planning for the children beneficiaries of P. C. Lee OneSky Global Centre, with whom GAC collaborates to provide arts and craft classes to children two to six years of age.
The fellows also assisted GAC with its research for a Creative Reuse Centre, a sustainability initiative that aims to create a library of reusable arts and crafts supplies to reduce waste. Working alongside each other on the research, Samara Anand and Lea El-Asmar looked into the demographics of that area where the Creative Reuse Centre will be located, ways to organize the store, and marketing and financial planning etc.
In the meantime, Owen Lee was tasked with documenting GAC’s art education classes for OneSky’s beneficiaries as well as boxing lessons offered at GAC.
Kaisha Woo, Founder and Director of GAC, was impressed by the three fellows’ quality of work. “Samara exhibited strong teamwork by actively engaging in group discussions, contributing ideas, and taking the initiative to divide tasks among peers, while maintaining focus throughout the week. Her collaborative approach helped streamline project efforts, particularly in brainstorming sessions, curriculum development.”
“Owen created promotional videos for both our early childhood education organization partner and GAC. He showed a keen ability to understand each project’s purpose, target audience, and desired mood, translating these elements into high-quality final products. His combination of creative vision and technical execution is impressive.”
“Lea showed strong visual art skills and efficiency during the class preparation, and her ability to conduct market research and analyze data showcased her problem-solving skills and dedication.”
Meeting Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs in TST and Sham Shui Po
Another highlight of the second week of the program was the GuideFong Tours. Led by Adnan “Dani” Riaz, FSI’s Community Business Support Program Assistant, the GuideFong Tours introduced the fellows to ethnically diverse entrepreneurs in the Mirador Mansion and Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui and parts of Sham Shui Po. In Sham Shui Po, the fellows also learned about the history of the city’s textile industry and the communities of migrants and refugees.
Over lunch on both days of the GuideFong Tours, we deepened connections with the fellows, sharing conversations about favorite films and vacation spots.
Another Week of Fun and Practical Learning with FSI and Our Community Partners
“This week, we are seeing great energy and growth in all three fellows,” said Veleda Tam, Youth Empowerment Program Manager at FSI. “We started with a stakeholder simulation workshop, where the fellows thoughtfully considered perspectives beyond their own, demonstrating increased openness, empathy, and proactiveness. This prepared the fellows for the engagements they made throughout the week with diverse stakeholders, from the FSI team, social entrepreneurs at GAC, to OneSky’s beneficiaries. We celebrate Lea’s and Owen’s valuable contributions as they conclude their two-week fellowship, and we look forward to welcoming three new fellows next week to join Samara, who is staying for the entire four weeks of the program.”
“I loved the workshop this week,” said Samara, “it was super fun and it also helped us understand different perspectives, and I really enjoyed working with the kids and prepping for the OneSky lessons. I found the GuideFong Tours super interesting, and I liked learning about the culture of Sham Shui Po.”
Also finding joy in helping GAC prepare for the art lessons for OneSky is Lea: “My favorite activity this week was helping out at OneSky, specifically making crafts and preparing the lessons for the week for the children. I would like to give a shout-out to Kaisha and Jason for always being helpful when needed, and teaching us to broaden our understanding of creativity and art.”
Said Owen: “I enjoyed being able to go to OneSky and getting to be face-to-face with those we’re trying to help.”
Stay tuned for updates on the third week of our 2025 Summer Impact Fellowship Program, as the fellows learn about design thinking and social impact, in addition to their placement at Migrasia, a think-and-do tank that fosters solutions to a broken migration system.
If you would like to sponsor youth for our Summer Impact Fellowship Program or support our other youth empowerment initiatives, get in touch with us at info@shared-impact.com!
