Coffee Pod #69: Sisters Rosie and Lucy Thomas head up Australia’s Youth-Driven Movement Against Bullying.

Coffee Pods with Holly Ransom

It’s a double shot this week as founders of Project Rockit (www.projectrockit.com.au), sisters Lucy and Rosie Thomas, talk mobilising change, challenging self doubt and creating open-minded global citizens. Rockit is a project and a platform designed to fuel a world for young people where kindness and respect thrive over bullying, hate and prejudice. Lucy and Rosie created the business soon after leaving high school, the idea grew from a strong desire to impact the way we treat each other - online and off - and instigate the formative conversations that seem to be missing from the education system.

Having both received Order of Australia medals, been named by UNICEF among 12 Digital Champions for Children’s Rights in the Digital Age and sitting on a range of boards including Facebook’s Global Safety Board, the synergy between Lucy and Rosie is matched by the synergy between strategy and creation inherent in Project Rockit. Crystal clear on purpose and focused on the For-Profit Social Enterprise model as key to self-evaluation, market research and relevance, the sisters take the view that young people are experts and have worked with hundreds of thousands of Aussie kids through their school workshops – with no preaching lecturing or judging, just real talk.

So how are two young entrepreneurs navigating the journey of taking a grass roots social movement to a sustainable, scalable, accountable social enterprise? Over the last 12 years, Project Rockit has become a global business and with it, the ambition to break open the echo chamber and have better conversations around conflicting views only increases. In between growing a team, gathering capability and taking care of each other, staying in close contact with school kids remains paramount. The sisters draw strength from these students “who are sick and tired of bullying and prejudice and want to make their voices heard against it”.

In this #coffeepod special we cover so much ground with humility, courage and humanity. I’m left feeling utterly elated at the world our young people are striving to create for us all. Listen and learn.

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