Yasmine El Baggari 11F Featured in Nasdaq's “Faces of Entrepreneurship” for Global Connection Platform
Hampshire College alum Yasmine El Baggari 11F, who studied economics, Middle Eastern studies, and women's rights, launched an online platform that fosters global understanding.
El Baggari's venture, Voyaj, was inspired in part by her own passion for travel and exploration of other communities. The Morocco native has visited all 50 U.S. states and more than 40 countries, and stayed in the homes of more than 250 families to learn about human interaction and diversity. The divisions in our world and feelings of loneliness are what keep her awake at night. She created her business to connect people from around the globe in meaningful one-on-one exchanges with the aim of fostering understanding and peace. She has worked with the World Bank, Harvard University, and the U.S. State Department to foster cultural understanding and connection.
“My superpower as an entrepreneur is my ability to connect authentically with every human being, making them feel heard and valued (and vice-versa), regardless of how much or how little we seem to have in common,” El Baggari says. “I practice patience and ask the deeper questions to find our intersections and commonalities as well as our differences. I am continually fascinated by people’s stories, journeys, challenges, ups and downs, cultural heritage, wildest dreams, and what they are willing to share with me. Curiosity, curiosity, curiosity!”
> Read the entire Q&A with El Baggari at Nasdaq's Entrepreneurial Center.
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