September 5, 2022 saw the 1st session of the ME=WE Pathfinder program by INNOCO, aptly titled “IGNITE” to indicate the start of our journey as facilitators building community in our home country or our homes by choice. And there were plenty of regions in which we can affect change, since the participating members came from 5 different time zones! But defying expectations, the distance actually emphasized the cohort’s closeness, because we discovered, through an invigorating and introspective exercise in exploring identity, that we all have very similar alignment on our goals and can develop our skills through guidance by the INNOCO team and each other’s experiences. To understand our identity on multiple facets, we selected “worlds” for ourselves on a shared Miro board where we can record our journey through Pathfinder as we complete each exercise in the program. We were also introduced to the idea of how visualizing our journey as a “pathfinder” for our community can also understand the aspects of this journey that we value the most, which helped “IGNITE” the program!

by Rajaa Bohkari