EndingCOVID x UP
For a lot of us, things have changed pretty drastically in the last six or so weeks. It’s been pretty overwhelming seeing headlines about the tanking economy, dealing with the Zoom-work-recreation complex, and distancing ourselves from physical interaction.
I know that for me, when this pandemic really started to gain steam, it seemed like the entire trajectory of my life had changed. I thought I had figured things out, that I’d learned from the past and would proceed to take those lessons with me onto the next chapter, whatever it may be. It was difficult to grapple with the feeling of this invisible rug being swept out from underneath me as I drove home to my parent’s house and learned to adjust to what’s amounted to being the new normal.
Yet I kept coming back to something fundamental to my inner motivation: happiness, something I pursue by making other people happy. I knew I couldn’t sit on my hands for too long as the pandemic raged around the globe; therefore, I pledged to use my personal skillset — storytelling, branding, and design — to create things that can help those in need.
So when a good friend from Northwestern, Tejas Sekhar, came along asking if I wanted to partner with his venture, EndingCovid, I realized that our first collaboration post-Relaunch was set to be almost too perfect. I asked Tejas what his “breaking point” was — at what moment in time did he decide to channel his passion and energy into the venture?
“I think for me…I was trying to find ways to stay motivated, stay engaged…find things to do, honestly,” Tejas said. It really gave me a sense of urgency in using this moment, now more than ever…to make something of it.”
He pointed out my last story and said that something I wrote — the idea that “being bored is a privilege” — really resonated with him, particularly because he had already been thinking about it himself. Tejas started looking at his own experiences, what he’s done in class as well as outside of it, to determine what he wanted to dive into.
“School doesn’t have to be a burden, ya know?” he told me. “I can use some of the things I’ve learned in school, as well as some of the things I’ve learned outside school…through my experiences in the startup space and through running a nonprofit since high school. How can I leverage these in the best way possible, that makes sense in the current moment?”
Around the end of March, Tejas decided to participate in a hackathon, where he and a group of students from Stanford to Wash U worked together to create a tool that weeded out fake news by drawing upon a database of credible news sources like the CDC and WHO. The nature of the event — smart college kids banding together to hack something together with a goal of enacting good — inspired him to participate in a social innovation challenge led by Teach For America, where his team won a first-place prize of $2,000.
He then took his cut and bought 100 face shields, donating them to local St. Louis hospitals. Upon realizing how much more work there was that needed to get done, Tejas started EndingCovid.org as a way to raise money and distribute resources for two separate groups: PPE for hospitals and essential workers, as well as donations and food to vulnerable communities such as homeless and veteran shelters. His mission moving forward certainly sounds ambitious, but he believes that every small donation and piece of protective equipment will go a long way in the fight against Covid-19.
So why did Tejas decide to collaborate with us? “I think Unplugg’d fits so well with everything that’s going on in the current moment,” he said. “I think now — more than ever — we have a need for honest and authentic dialogue.”
He went on to say one of the things that really interested him about Unplugg’d was our passion for promoting conversations that need to be had. “At the end of the day, some of the things I’ve been consuming from Unplugg’d just really resonate with me beyond things that are topical in the media and really matter to me moreso.”
In creating this collaboration, we redesigned our traditional rectangle logo to fit ‘ENDINGCOVID’ in our classic font. You’ll see lightning bolts and our trademark powder blue shine throughout, as well as a faded St. Louis skyline faded into the background inspired by the city that’s inspired Tejas so much.
I couldn’t have been happier to create this capsule with Tejas and EndingCovid, which you can now purchase in our store! I hope that his story leads you to reflect, too — is there any way you can wield your knowledge, passion, and time to do some good? In that regard, it’s an exciting time to be an entrepreneur, as there’s a heck of a lot of emerging problems that require solving.
You can listen to my entire conversation with Tejas Sekhar on all your favorite podcast platforms here, as well as check out the entire ENDINGCOVID x UP collaboration here! All proceeds will be going to Tejas and his organization as they continue to create change in the St. Louis area.