The speaker, Cholena, shares her personal journey of feeling lost and alone during her freshman year of college at Northwestern University. She recounts her struggle with identity and the feeling of being alone, which resonated with her after watching an episode of Mad Men where Ana Draper says, "The only thing keeping you from being happy is the belief that you are alone."
Cholena shares pictures from her first week of college, showing her smiling in photos that were taken by her friends, even though she didn't feel happy at the time. She also shares a diary entry from her first week of college, where she expresses her feelings of loneliness and confusion.
She describes how she felt lost and didn't know her identity after leaving her home in California to start college. She talks about how she felt lonely even though she was surrounded by friends and involved in various activities. She also shares about her experience of feeling empty inside even after spending time with friends.
Cholena shares her experience of feeling lonely while traveling abroad for a journalism project, and how she felt a sense of magic and adventure during her travels. She also talks about her fear of going back to her everyday life after the trip.
She shares about her experience of feeling scared to go back home after visiting the Berlin Wall and seeing a question written on it: "What do you want to do before you die?" This question hit her hard as she was questioning her purpose in life and what she wanted to do with her life.
Cholena shares how she came up with the idea of "Big Talk," a concept of skipping small talk and jumping into deeper, more meaningful conversations. She shares how she created a deck of 90 mini Big Talk question cards, each of which is universal and thought-provoking.
She shares how her idea of Big Talk went viral after she posted a video on Facebook, and how she started getting messages from people all over the world expressing their appreciation for the concept. She talks about how she started giving talks and workshops to promote Big Talk, and how she created a website to share all the events and cards related to Big Talk.
Cholena shares how she took a leave of absence from college to work on Big Talk, and how she started using Big Talk as a tool for understanding herself better. She talks about her ultimate vision of using Big Talk to build global empathy through the power of connection and sharing stories about universal human experiences.
In conclusion, Cholena leaves the audience with a Big Talk question: "How can I take what I learned today to make my life different tomorrow?"
1. The speaker is discussing their personal struggle of feeling lost and alone when they moved from Southern California to Northwestern University for their freshman year of college.
2. The speaker shares a quote from the TV show "Mad Men" that resonated with them: "The only thing keeping you from being happy is the belief that you are alone."
3. The speaker mentions that they were plagued by the question "Who am I?" during their first year of college, feeling that they had lost their identity.
4. The speaker shares a story about a deep philosophical conversation they had with a friend from far away, where they discussed the idea of skipping small talk and making "big talk" instead.
5. The speaker talks about their involvement in a journalism program and their experiences filming a documentary about education reform in Ecuador.
6. The speaker shares a story about visiting the Berlin Wall and coming across a question written on it: "What do you want to do before you die?" This question had a significant impact on them.
7. The speaker discusses the creation of a YouTube video called "Big Top" as an experiment to meet new people and have deeper, more meaningful conversations with them.
8. The speaker shares that their video went viral and they started receiving messages from people all over the world expressing similar sentiments.
9. The speaker talks about turning "Big Talk" into a movement and creating a deck of 90 mini "Big Talk" question cards.
10. The speaker shares that they took a leave of absence from University to work on "Big Talk" and started asking themselves "Big Talk" questions to reconnect with themselves.
11. The speaker leaves the audience with a final "Big Talk" question: "How can I take what I learned today to make my life different tomorrow?"