Inspiring the Next Generation - AiLun Ku - Episode # 046

AiLun Ku is the President and CEO of the Opportunity Network. She sees the talent in the next generation and is committed to making sure they are given the same chances as others. AiLun sits down with host Dan Ryan to talk about her view on #hospitality and how to give everyone the sense of being welcomed.

Takeaways: 

• Inspiring the youth can have such a great lasting impact. They are the ones who can change the world for the better. 
• It’s ok to admit that you don’t know everything and open up about the mistakes that have been made because that creates room for growth.
• You want to claim your identity and be proud of who you are. You can use that to guide your journey in life. 
• Hospitality is a state of exchanging culture. It feels warm and inviting, like it was meant to be that way all along.  
• The way we think about social justice in mass experience injustice. You can train people so that injustices aren’t a part of your company.
• We are not truly in a space where opinions or voices from people of color are being taken with as much weight as they should be, but that doesn’t mean it can’t change for the better with the younger generation.
• It’s important to open the mind of the next generation to hospitality opportunities and what is going on in the world. 

Quote of the Show:

6:49 “We don't know everything. And when we don't know it, we'll try to figure it out together. And so for so long, our students, our alumni, they say, tell us, bring in more speakers that are willing to talk about failures and the mistakes. We gesture to the idea of mistakes and failures. And so when we normalize it right in conversation, then it becomes normalized for our young people.”

Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ailun_ku
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ailun-ku-8770211/
• Website: https://opportunitynetwork.org/ 

Shout Outs:

8:27 Catskill Mountains

15:39 Carl Jackman

27:48 MIT Media Lab

27:52 Local Voices Network

29:10 Worth Doing Wrong by Arnie Malham

31:08 Cortico AI

33:01 Star Trek

37:41 OppNet Gala

39:22 Brian Weinstein

39:29 Independent Lodging Congress

41:10 Damon Lawrence

49:31 NYU’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service

Ways to Tune In: 

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0A2XOJvb6mGqEPYJ5bilPX
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/defining-hospitality-podcast/id1573596386
• Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGVmaW5pbmdob3NwaXRhbGl0eS5saXZlL2ZlZWQueG1s
• Amazon Music: ​​https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/8c904932-90fa-41c3-813e-1cb8f3c42419
• Podbean: https://www.defininghospitality.live/
• Youtube : https://youtu.be/3GOUbsyoZWw