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Making a Difference Where You Are

Oct 24 @ 6:00 pm-8:00 pm

What if you discovered you have the power to change the world?

Join the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation in welcoming Nan Alexander Doyal to discuss her book Dig Where You Are: How One Person’s Effort Can Save a Life, Empower a Community and Create Meaningful Change in the World.

The evening event will include a reception, presentation, panel discussion, author Q&A, and book signing. 

Panelists include Kafi Blumenfield, Trustee, James Irvine Foundation (moderator); Bill Parent, Lecturer, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs; and Maria Brenes, Executive Director, InnerCity Struggle. 

RSVP HERE

About the Book

Dig Where You Are is about the potential in each of us to make a difference in the world by simply taking what we already know how to do and using it to make a meaningful change for the good.  It is about seeing the opportunity in front of you to make something better and then doing something about it.  It is not about wishing you were someone you’re not, but about recognizing and using the talents you have and including those around you in an effort to bring about change. This book is a collection of stories of people who have done exactly this.  They started small and through persistence and grit they ended up creating something that had a big impact on the world.  Even so, what we realize in reading these accounts is that it’s not about the size of the initial effort that matters; it’s that we are engaged and looking out for one another on an ongoing basis – this is what really creates scale in the long term.  Furthermore, as we learn from these stories, there is no right way to start digging where you are and that is why it holds such promise.

About the Author

Nan Alexander Doyal has lived and worked in North America, Europe and Asia for more than three decades; most recently as President of The International Forum – an organization that designs active learning experiences for the leaders of global corporations. For more than ten years she led and managed this organization and its network worldwide; assessed the challenges facing global corporations and created programs to address these. Working with multi-disciplinary and multi-culture teams on the ground, she helped to design and run hands-on leadership and active learning programs in Japan, China, India, Thailand, Poland, Czech Republic, Sweden, Belgium and the United States. Prior to joining The International Forum she was a vice president with Ameritech Corporation in Chicago, Illinois, ran her own direct marketing firm, held several positions at American Express Travel Related Services Co. Inc. in New York, worked for Shiseido Co. Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan and for RBC Dominion Securities, in Toronto, Canada.  She is a graduate of Smith College and The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

In 2008 she began a journey to re-connect with people she had met in the world who were solving problems in creative and sustainable ways. She recounts their stories and what she learned in Dig Where You Are: How One Person’s Effort Can Save a Life, Empower a Community and Create Meaningful Change in the World. This is her first book.