Walking through the doors of University College in Melbourne, 2017, I was immediately confronted by dancing – a lot of it. And boy oh boy did I grow to love it. As a year 12 student, I had no idea what I was getting myself involved in, or that one experience with yLead would lead me to discover my passion and in a few years’ time, speak at one of their biggest events…
The biggest lesson I took away from ASLC in 2017 was the importance of atmosphere and the role it plays in making us feel confident to step outside of our comfort zone. I also realised how vital it is to have good people around us when we are exploring new experiences or feel uncomfortable about trying something new – to have that support and backing allows us to grow. This was something that I hadn’t felt in my upbringing, especially coming from a lower socioeconomic background. I absolutely loved conference for the skills it equipped me with, the new experiences, the new friends I made and how fun it was. I just knew I had to come back!
In 2018, I was fortunate enough to receive the opportunity to become a mentor and join the yTeam!
I couldn’t tell you how much I wanted to be in the blue, to come back to the conference vibes that had a long-lasting impact on me and give back. It was surreal to connect with the team, the students and lead my own squad – passing on lessons that I had learnt from year 12 and at the same time, learning from the students, as they shared their own wisdom. Those three days are truly special and never fail to set everyone up for the year.
2018 was also my first year studying at uni, where I didn’t really know where I wanted to go in life…
To figure that out, I used the motivation found at yLead to adopt a ‘you don’t know what food you like unless you taste it’ mindset. I got involved in as many opportunities as possible and started to taste things to figure out what I liked and what I disliked. There were a wide variety of experiences that came with this theory – some amazing ones, like running social media campaigns and silent meditation retreats, as well as some very very weird ones… Regardless, all of them left their own piece of wisdom to reflect on. Through this, I discovered my passion for working in the community and with multicultural people – providing opportunities for capacity building, supporting them and advocating for them.
At the same time, my yTeaming journey continued. I became a guru, where my role was to help the mentors at conference. This is where my passion for working with young people stems from – I believe young people are the pioneers for change and it’s a privilege to give them the guidance and helping hand they need to fulfil their ambitions and have an impact.
These passions then fuelled my drive to be on stage and spread my message.
It was a Sunday night when Bel and Amy called regarding the opportunity to be a guest speaker at Altitude Day in Sunshine Coast. I remember I had a flow of emotions running through me that night, as it was one of the biggest gigs I had gotten, and I knew I would be sharing the stage with established speakers whom I had watched as a yTeamer at previous Altitude Days – it felt full circle to now share my own story at this event
On the day, I was extremely nervous, but with the help of the amazing yTeam I got up there and gave it my all. It was a pleasure to share with the students and the team what I’m passionate about, share my story and what change I would like to see in the world. Afterwards, the students came up to me to thank me and tell me how much I impacted them – it was at this moment I realised that the path I’m on is the right one and this is what I’m going to do in life.
I want you to find that one thing that makes you feel alive, so let me share some tips:
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Taste as many things as possible – Push yourself out of your comfort zone and say yes to opportunities. You never know where you’ll end up.
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Don’t be afraid to go backwards – You will face setbacks and go through failures, but don’t let that stop you from re-centering and bouncing back!
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Back yourself – This is something that I’m still working on, but it helps me in knowing that I’m exactly where I need to be. We’ll make it work. We’ll figure it out. You got this!
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you got something out of it! Much love <3
-Krushnadevsinh (Kano) Ravalji
LinkedIn | Instagram: @kanoravalji
If you want to hear more from Kano, check him out on our YouTube series: yTeam Stories
