9/22 |Sanitation, Startups and Stress

September Newsletter

Hey, I’m sure if you clicked on this you have already been exposed to my name… But, here’s some more information about me! I’m an 18y/o innovator, neurodiversity advocate and public speaker. Some of my interests include learning about medicine/neuroscience and reading non-fiction books.

As promised by the title, here’s my recap of this past September.

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🆕 Beginnings

After months of anticipation and waiting, finally, September 10th came! For those unfamiliar with the significance of this date, it was, in fact, my first session of the innovate program at The Knowledge Society. As a suburban girl from birth, I have made my weekly commute to the city part of my personality (#sorrynotsorry 😅).

Here’s a group picture with me (I’m on the right side wearing the New York shirt) and some fellow TKS students at our first session!

To sum up TKS for those who are unfamiliar, it’s sort of like the Y Combinator for teenagers but without having 10% equity in the company. The entire program is centred on growing one’s intellectual curiosity and mental fortitude 👊🏻.

So far, my favourite session was during our 3rd week with Navid Nathoo! We were tasked with creating short slide presentations on what our group believed would be the so-called “next big thing”. As an avid neuroscience 🧠 nerd 🤓, I encouraged my group to do BCIs (Brain Computer Interfaces).

I personally really enjoyed the aspect of getting truly honest feedback from Navid, as I could tell he wanted to help me succeed instead of “🥄-feeding” me mediocre feedback.

Key Takeaways from Navid’s Presentation Session

• DO NOT ❌ READ FROM YOUR SLIDES!

• Less > More (or at least in terms of content that is being displayed on your slides).

• OWN YOUR SH*T💩, or at least have some faith in your natural abilities.

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Working Part-Time @Mentra (A Neurodiversity based Startup)

Neurodiversity is a collective ideology that focuses on the physiological and psychological variations within the human brain.

In September, I continued my work at this neurodiversity-centred startup by the name of Mentra. This month in particular I went through transitioning into a part-time capacity team member. I may be biased since I truly enjoy my job due to our neuro-inclusive work culture.

Check out the article that I wrote for Mentra’s in-house publication!

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ELEVATE x TKS

This past month marked my attendance at my first tech conference (ever)! I was graciously given the opportunity to attend the Elevate on behalf of The Knowledge Society. Throughout this entire experience, I gained a new appreciation for the sole amount of work that it takes to run an event like this!

The moment I’ll never forget was when Chris Hadfield answered my question LIVE on stage in the Q&A portion of his talk. See the actual video of me doing so here ⬇️

Another memorable encounter would have had to be talking with Ronen Benin, the CEO of Glissner. He shared with us his mission to reduce the spread of diseases by implementing universal phone sanitation stations. Don’t worry, they do NOT use any traditional sanitation products such as liquids or wipes on your phones. They actually utilize UV-C light to clean 99.99% of the germs on your phone.

Overall, It was insane for me to be in the literal presence of thousands of like-minded indivduals. In the meantime, I’ll be crossing my fingers and hoping that I will get a similar opportunity like this in the future!

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Looking Ahead 👀🔮

• Working on College Applications

As the leaves change colour and the temperature drops, the main thing that seems to stay consistent is my ambitious dreams regarding the possible results of this college application cycle. While I am stressed, I am confident in my abilities and all of the work that I’ve done thus far.

Regardless, I’m beyond excited to embark on this new chapter in my life! Stay tuned to watch me expand beyond my Canadian 🇨🇦 roots as I possibly venture to America 🇺🇸 for university.

• Diving into my selected “focus” for TKS

At, TKS all students are invited to select an emerging field in either science or technology to “focus” in on. Students then create content in their prospective fields to gauge a greater understanding of the topic itself. I’m looking forward to sharing my selected focus topics soon (hint *it’s a field that relates to everyone).

• Speaking at Neurodiversity Related Events

This October, I will be speaking at the Stanford Neurodiversity Summit on the k-12 media panel!

I will also be speaking (virtually) at the NYC Autism Tech, Innovation and Careers Expo on October 22nd.

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Thanks for Reading!

If you made it this far, you’re a real one! While you’re here, feel free to check out my Twitter, Medium, LinkedIn and Youtube Channel (lots of content coming soon, I promise :)

Wanna get in touch? Send me an email at laurenapearsonn@gmail.com!