I have learned to manage my emotions and share them with others, but above all, I have learned to motivate myself alone and to understand that leadership requires commitment, passion, ambition but above all discipline to achieve everything that is planned as an individual and as a group.
1. Tell us about your background and Journey.
My name is Kelly Duque, I was born in Bogotá Colombia in a middle-class family, my father is an Engineer and my mother is a housewife, I grew up with a sister one year older and although we had the same education we are totally different people, I developed too much my passion for equality, for leadership and the path led me to that, the path and making focused decisions.
During my early years, my parents traveled to various cities in Colombia, I have always said that we were nomads, we did not have a stable place to live for more than 4 years, my father loved discovering new opportunities so I grew up with a love for the travel and discovering the world.
I did not have a normal or easy childhood due to the trips and the different ways of living that we encountered, until in 2005 my father decided to return to Bogotá, and from there until I was 18 I was in Public schools, I was always the best in my class but also with the passage of time I became a leader for my classmates, not only the leader of good grades but also the leader of social problems.
However, when I entered the university, I forgot a bit about those ideals, since I had left Bogotá to a place called Pereira (Colombia) to study Industrial Engineering, of course, I could study in Bogotá but I always wanted a public university and not one private, and in Pereira, I went to the Technological University, a public university, there I found different ways and ways of seeing life and I spent 5 years striving to understand the culture and to understand how to live alone, without supervision and without a family member by my side.
It has been the most enriching experience of my life because it taught me about Self-leadership, something that I developed and still continue to develop at AIESEC. Currently, I live in the Dominican Republic, I am in leadership experience, being the national president of AIESEC in the Dominican Republic, leading a team of 5 people, and trying to generate more Dominican leadership.
2. When and why did you join AIESEC?
AIESEC is the largest youth organization in the world and seeks to develop the full development of human potential to generate environments of peace, in short, to give young people the opportunity to be leaders and to empower others to generate more leads.
AIESEC opened the doors for me in 2017, February and I am still in the organization, there is no specific reason why I joined, I simply wanted to do something at university and re-meet my self from the school, in addition to some extracurricular activity, already that I focused a lot on my studies and I became a very reserved person to the point of not having many friends.
I have always said that life gives you an opportunity on the road to change and be better, it is only to take it.
3. Why do you think it is important for people to develop leadership skills from the beginning?
For a young college student, learning leadership will help him on the way to find people, processes, and situations to grow, I believe that youth leadership is currently very low, very few young people take the initiative in their own lives and we are always leading adults who do not understand empathy, justice, social responsibility, strategies for others to reach their best version.
We are surrounded by adult bosses without a social-collective direction and it is time to develop young people who change the world, who understand that Empathy makes us better people, it leads us to a world of equality, non-racism and discrimination, it makes us humans who understand the power of the collective, it is like a phrase that says: "Unity is strength", Leadership makes us a team and helps us understand all the differences that we can have and take them as an advantage and not as a disadvantage as seen now.
It helps us to be citizens of the world, where borders are no longer and xenophobic thinking does not have a place.
I always recommend to young parents, to those of my generation, that in us is the change of the world and that the new generations need to have parents who are positive leaders, leaders who help change the inequality in which we currently live. Leadership for me starts with the following questions: If not us, then who? If not now, then when? It is time to be leaders.
4. What have been your biggest learnings from your experience?
There have been many things that I have learned, but the most important and the one that encompasses everything is self-leadership, I have learned to make decisions without a leader who is watching me or telling me what to do, I have learned to lead multicultural and multi-diverse teams.
I have learned to manage my emotions and share them with others, but above all, I have learned to motivate myself alone and to understand that leadership requires commitment, passion, ambition but above all discipline to achieve everything that is planned as an individual and as a group.
5. What advice would you give to newcomers to college?
The university is a learning space, take advantage of each of the activities that you can attend and find an organization, group, or research project that allows you to be the best version of yourself, in addition to obtaining multiple experiences. Do not be blind to just one note, in the end, the note is just a number, try to learn from every subject, person, or process that is on your way.
I would tell them to live every moment in college, even if it is difficult, and to always seek to develop as leaders and help others to do so, it is not about competition, it is about learning to be better people in order to be better professionals.
6. How has AIESEC adapted during Covid?
AIESEC has had an evaluation process to be able to adapt correctly, although its organizational core exchanges, its vision may have many actions outside the exchanges, this new approach has allowed it to continue, but its purpose never changes.
And as for I know that although we are in a pandemic, in wars (as AIESEC was born) or another different situation, its vision and mission will allow it to adapt to each of the situations that arise, in addition, there will always be young people to impact and there will always be led to develop.
7. What is your favorite book and why?
My favorite book is Inferno by Dan Brown, it is a book that makes you think many times and many things, that raises your heart thinking about what can happen and how it can happen, also between the lines makes you investigate the history, geography, religion, and many more issues.
Also, in the end, it gives you a very well thought out situation although it generates the dichotomy in which there are decisions that we must make as humans to survive and also who will be responsible for doing it and if we currently have leaders who make good decisions.
Kelly Julieth Duque V. | President AIESEC in Dominican Republic | Industrial Engineer
Interviewed By: Nishad Kinhikar
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