Meet Avanti Sharma. Currently a student at Eindhoven University of Technology studying chemical engineering and chemistry, Sharma already wears multiple hats, and is just 19 years old. She’s director of artificial intelligence and growth at Workshop4Me, founder at Lëtz Make SDGs Happen, and brand ambassador at WeSTEM+, an organisation that supports girls, women, and underrepresented groups in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The common thread linking these roles? Sharma champions change from a young age, whether that’s through technology, education, or sustainability.
At Workshop4Me, Sharma empowers young people by encouraging them to develop coding, programming, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills. The company, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, runs programmes like Codeutainment, which blends coding and entertainment. “It presents science, technology, and mathematics in a thrilling and entertaining way,” explains Sharma. Effective learning must go beyond textbooks. “We like to connect theory to reality. We show what you can do with all of these different concepts and how you can apply them.”
And she’s not just active in Luxembourg. Sharma has also run workshops for girls in rural India, teaching them how to build their own mobile app, and has spoken at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, sharing insights on empowering the next generation of girls and women in technology.
Besides her interest in making technical skills more tangible for young people, Sharma is also passionate about sustainability and driving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals forward. Launched on Luxembourg’s National Day earlier this year, Lëtz Make SDGs Happen is an initiative that aims to mobilise one million youths. The idea is to influence policies and decision-makers, partner with international companies, and collaborate with local organisations to make the world a better place. “We’re founded and based in Luxembourg, but we are a global movement,” says Sharma. “Our mission is to mobilise everyone.”
Educating young people is particularly important in order to achieve the SDGs or net-zero objectives, she emphasises. The youths of today will be in positions of power – as CEOs, board members, and policy-makers, in the coming years. It’s crucial to cultivate a “changemaker mindset” so that today’s young people will make the “right decisions” regarding the climate in the future, says Sharma. “That’s why it’s really about education and starting young.” Sustainability is not just a 9-to-5 job, she argues. It requires a shift in mindset and a focus on education to make a long-term impact.
On a personal level, Sharma now tries to integrate yoga and meditation into her daily life. “Sometimes, when someone is really obsessed with a goal, they think the only way is just to keep running, to keep pushing,” she says. “But sometimes, that’s the wrong way to go about it. Sometimes, one just has to sit down, breathe, and think.”
This article was published in the 8th edition of Forbes Luxembourg.
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