I really believe in a world where everyone can co-create their own lives, finding our satisfactions, developing our own potential, finding our space in the relationships we create. This is where all my work activities reunites. The HUB is the main one, but I also work as a member of the artistic foundation.
The idea of Impact HUB started in the early 90's. My father subscribed me to the Boy Scouts. This is where I first got the idea of network and community. It was my first influence. And it changed my life forever. Then, in 2001-2002, I was travelling and working. I was living in Washington DC. I saw Amnesty International work there and it was… wow. This really excited me. I mean, this organisation was working to protect Human Rights, people whose rights were not interesting to anyone but them.
I realised there were local independent groups of volunteers who try to take care of political prisoners, and others who work with similar things. So, I decided to join one of these teams. This is where I met Zdeněk Rudolský and Jakub Mareš, the other two founders of the Czech HUB, and then we spent 10 years volunteering, trying to help, building organisations, small ones; but definitely that was the beginning.
Eight years ago we wrote the concept of collaborative work, because there were no working spaces here. Now, if you have a business idea, you don’t have to keep it to yourself to be able to make it. There’ll be no one to take it away from you or misuse it. Not here. Here, a coworking community develops, creating, surrounded by propositions, connections, stories for inspiration. You share your idea with others in order to build it. That's the way it has been since then. Today, it’s no longer an invention. There's a dozen coworking spaces, all of them with different approaches, but the essence is similar.
If you take a look at the human needs, sooner or later everyone is looking for purpose: in life, relationships, job. I'm a different person than I used to be before the Impact HUB; my world and my life is totally illuminated by things, relationships and people that I have the privilege to encounter in the Impact HUB world. There’s this amazing group and amount of people that inspire me and challenge my views and preconceptions. I'm getting married next month, and the officiant will be my best friend, one of the cofounders; my groom also coworks in Impact HUB and my best woman works in the HUB too.
We’re a community of fourteen hundred members. I think we need to be responsible when creating. We are not focused on social enterprises only, we believe that we need to talk to the mainstream, and be connected with local realities. Your actions should be a contribution to scale to a better world. Lots of people are afraid of not being good enough, smart enough, successful enough; that permanent fear that our society isn't really giving the credibility to the connections with humanity enough. The wealth-power-control business model is based on egos and it’s not sustainable, neither for the planet nor the people who are perpetrating it.
Part of the identity is very connected with three values: trust, collaboration and courage. Collaboration is the strongest one. That brought me here.