Borderlander – A New Kind of Social Innovator

borderlander a new kind of social innovator

A key trait of every innovator is cultivating a diverse network of people that she / he can tap into for insights and perspective. The internet has opened up a rich and diverse network to me, but I also get to meet people from all walks of life by living in the U.S.-Mexico border.

My whole working life has been spent collaborating with people from across the world; not just people at home. I don’t know any other way of working. Because I value a global perspective, one of my goals as President of the Baja California Cluster was to create a bridge between people in the U.S. and Mexico, in terms of expanding people’s perspectives and creating collaboration opportunities.

I had the pleasure of meeting a woman who embodies and lives this attitude, which you’ll meet today. On this episode of the Big Bang podcast I’m joined by Rachel Christensen, Assistant Director for the Center for Peace and Commerce. She cares about inviting more cultural brokers and bridge builders into the public, private, and social sectors to help individuals and communities flourish.

I met Rachel through a mentoring opportunity, and found out she’s a cross-border ecosystem builder. Today we’re here to chat about what we think is a certain type of human, uniquely suited and trained to address problems, build a strong social network for impact and focus on what is essential and strategic to make real change. We’re talking about Borderlanders, border crossers, fronterizos – a new kind of social innovator.

Below are some questions we discussed:

  • What is your definition of a borderlander?
  • What are their traits?
  • What makes a borderlander impactful? In what ways does a borderlander add value by crossing the border?
  • How do you develop more borderlanders?
  • What was your insight for detecting borderlanders?
  • What motivates borderlanders? What motivates you?
  • What is your vision for the next 5 to 10 years of the work you’re doing?
  • What has to be true for your vision to become reality?

You can follow Rachel’s borderlander initiative on Instagram and Facebook.

Watch our chat below:

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Intro audio is by Arturo Arriaga, outro audio is Candyland by Guy J.