In 2012, I was working in Haiti—a country in Central America, located in the Caribbean Sea. For an entire year, every Sunday, I worked with three groups of students, facilitating activities using the design thinking method. We started by identifying problems in their community, worked together to understand them, and then brought forward solutions, which we developed further.

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At the end of the year, one of the three groups created a leadership program because the students believed that Haiti’s economic struggles were due to a lack of leadership. Another group focused on understanding agriculture and helped farmers implement modern techniques and information. Out of the three groups I worked with, two transformed into local organizations that still exist today.

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In Haiti, everything is different compared to Romania—from the climate to infrastructure, the education system, and especially opportunities. But one thing the two countries have in common is that their people can achieve anything when someone believes in them and wants to support them. It’s not enough to provide people with resources because that creates dependency. You need to provide them with the tools they need to achieve their goals on their own.

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In 2016, I returned to Romania. It had been 11 years since I graduated from high school and stepped into a school. I was surprised to see that not much had changed. Students had experiences similar to mine—they were learning by heart, not working in groups, and not collaborating with each other. For a month, I visited two schools in Mărășești, where I carried out the same type of activities with Romanian students that I had done with students in Haiti. I quickly realized that, while the activities worked, the biggest challenge would be reaching as many students as possible. That’s when I understood we needed to reach the teachers—to equip them with the resources to further support their students.

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All Grow was born in 2017, co-founded with Caleb Amaram, who brought the strategic vision and organization we needed. Caleb wished he had experienced these opportunities as a child, and together we concluded that only by investing in education can we contribute to the development of an inclusive society where everyone’s potential is recognized and encouraged to grow.