⭕️ How co-creating a TED Talk can bring you joy, new friends and a whole new perspective

If we were good in everything, we would have no need for each other. At WeCoCo, we believe that co-creating together can lead to better outcomes, greater efficiency, and a more enjoyable experience than working alone. This is why our Co-founder Patrycja Pielaszek didn't write her TED talk alone in a séparée, but on the contrary reached out for help to people she even didn't know before.

WeCoCo Tribe at the TEDxZurich 2023, photo by Jairo N'Tango

My name is Patrycja and in 2018, I started researching and sharing my ideas and vision for a more equitable future for all genders. I shared them on Instagram anonymously as WeCoCo. Based on connection first, wonderful encounters and collaborations have resulted from this platform and the community has been flourishing naturally.

In this picture, you see from left to right: Agnes Pakozdi, Chantal Landis, Cornelia Kawann, Réka Deàk, Tanya König, Melanie Kovacs, Patrycja Pielaszek, Jacqueline Keller, Natallia Zaremba.

After the second rehearsal, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the feedback of the jury and didn't know in which direction I should steer my story, as the opinions of the jury members were quite different. Then I remembered the TED Talk by Aurélie Litynski, also part of WeCoCo. I remembered that she worked with a TEDx coach from Lausanne in 2021.

Christopher Lübbers

His name was Christopher Lübbers and I wanted to find out more about him and his approach to storytelling and public speaking. That's how we got to know each other in December, even before my final confirmation as a TEDx speaker. His direct and solution-oriented approach appealed to me very much. He not only helped me to fine-tune my speech, but more importantly, shortly before my performance at the event itself. I owe it to his open and extremely emphatic manner that I did not let myself be distracted when my father was in very bad health condition shortly before my talk. I owe it to Chris that I was still able to go on stage grounded and calm.

I am grateful and happy to have found a WeCoCo in Chris.

“I commend Patrycja for her courage to show up as her authentic self in our sessions, for her tireless commitment to excellence when working on her talk and her irrevocable empathy while speaking about WeCoCo on the infamous red carpet. I saw so many people next to me in the audience and have heard from more over the following days who were truly touched by her talk at TEDxZurich. And so was I during rehearsals and on the day itself.” —Christopher Lübbers (LinkedIn)

Valentina S. Velandia

I met Valentina Velandia in 2018 at the occasion of a business brunch for female founders. I was impressed by her startup Capacity, an initiative to empower refugees and migrants in Switzerland through entrepreneurship - although I didn't feel concerned. How wrong I was! Just one year later, I found myself on stage of Capacity sharing my own immigration and integration story with a huge audience. This was the moment I realised how deeply the experiences from my childhood and the escape from Poland were rooted in me, and influenced my actions in so many areas of life. It was Valentina who encouraged me to share even more of my story with others and to encourage refugees not to give up and to look for new ways to find a sense of belonging in a foreign country. Meanwhile, Valentina became not only a WeCoco, but a true friend whom I cherish and love. It was her unquestioning faith in me, but also her own story which took the essence of my lateral thinking in English to a higher level for which I am eternally grateful to her.

“Being a part of Patrycja’s journey towards sharing her story of resilience through her fascinating narrative of radical collaboration and building brave spaces for belonging was an absolute privilege. Witnessing her courage in sharing her story and seeing the positive impact it had on others was a transformative experience. She did all the hard work and I just illuminated a way towards self-reflection. Being her sounding board connected me deeply with her experiences and her story is the story of the collective.” —Valentina S. Velandia (LinkedIn)

Rajan Thambehalli

Rajan Thambehalli was assigned as my coach by Magda Kern, Head of speakers TEDxZürich, and I met him for the first time for a kick-off meeting in July 2022 at our WeCoCo Collab22. Besides working on my story - resp. stories - we enjoyed it very much to exchange experiences in Switzerland, talked about equality topics and loved to share bold approaches since Rajan is a passionate risk taker. He often challenged me with critical questions and bold suggestions so we were able to narrow down the million ideas step by step to be able to knit a coherent story for the audience building a bridge between my origins and the person I am today.

“Working with Patrycja was a unique experience. She had a takeaway message that could have been reached through many paths - so the challenge was to put everything on the table and decide the best course of action for TEDxZurich. I appreciate her ability to take additional feedback, question each of them instead of blindly following, and trust me when it matters.”—Rajan Thambehalli (LinkedIn)

Rabbit Dance with David JP Philipps

It was in September 2022 that I had the opportunity to meet David JP Philipps (LinkedIn), one of the top TEDx Speakers worldwide, at the strategy retreat of AJ&Smart. We had an intensive session with him learning a lot about storytelling and presentation skills which do not require any talent according to him. "It's something everyone can apply", he emphasised. And this is what I did on my way from Italy back to Zürich, I followed his instructions and re-wrote my entire speech. I was in a flow and it felt so good! My Business Buddy Chantal Schmelz was the first person at the main station in Milan to review the new concept and surprisingly she didn't have many objections.

This is how I continued riding the roller coaster with the invaluable support of the WeCoCo community in endless gratitude to Chantal Landis, Anna Stando, Kenji Kemp, Melanie Kovacs, Elvira Häusler, Réka Deàk, Ola Potrykus, Bilge Apak, Chantal Schmelz and with special thanks to Hanna Brahme, Magda Kern-Fialkowska, Tanya König and many more from the TEDxZürich team.

Last but not least I am infinitely grateful for the love and the unconditional support of my family and my partner in crime ♥︎ Thank you,

Patrycja

✳️ Ting — a community shares money for more potential

This is the story of a pioneering civil society project that shares money to unlock human potential. As a member of the Ting community, you can draw money from a joint account to pursue your own dreams. Ondine Riesen, co-founder of Ting, about the vision and power of the innovative network.

Ting Pioneering Project & Community

Strangers gift you money for six months without knowing what exactly you'll do with it?

That's a question the Ting community is often confronted with. The simple answer is yes. The differentiated one is: Ting is based on trust because it is not the control factor that determines the major development steps. Therefore, Ting questions pure meritocracy and believes in human potential.

The Ting Effect

The basic assumption of Ting is: If (just enough) money is freely given, without performance requirements or time stress, then new things can emerge. Some questions behind this assumption are: How do we create sustainable success in everyday life, less financial pressure, or more time for individual development? Are potentials and ideas lying dormant for economic reasons? The basic attitude at Ting: No matter who you are, you have huge potential, and we support you! And the numbers show the need: 160 months (more than 13 years) of community income have been paid out so far, and currently about CHF 25'000 is shared monthly. But the goal is not primarily the profit in a monetary sense, but rather the profit for society. We want to get to know ideas and projects that are stuck somewhere in overcrowded heads. We want to liberate them, to inspire and empower the makers.

Has it been worth it so far? You bet it has: We can tell of wonderful examples. Evelyn, for instance, has founded a sustainable do-it-yourself pattern label thanks to community support: Lyn Studio. Or Florian, who launched a platform for Swiss food cooperatives. Or Muriel, who created a coaching program tailored for makers. The list is long and can be tracked online at any time.

Thing Community

A bit of Ting history

Ting was created about three years ago. Have you heard of unconditional basic income? It's a radical vision that, according to initial research, has a lot of potential for a more satisfied and productive society. Ting can be seen as a little sister, it is not completely unconditional, but we launched it as an experiment for the future. Currently supported by the Migros Pioneer Fund, the motto is: Better go for it, observe and adapt than just dream. Or: Together, there is more in it for everyone. Ting now has over 370 members, and new ones join every day. Ting is driven by a diverse and interdisciplinary core team. We all really believe that a trusting mindset and collaborative actions can make society more sustainable.

"Our belief is that there are many ideas in society. But often the people behind them don't have the energy, the time, or just the resources to focus on those ideas."

Ondine Riesen, Co-Founder Ting Community

About Ondine

After her Master in Fribourg (politics, history, human rights), Ondine gained a variety of experiences in the federal government, journalism, and the nonprofit sector.

She is the co-founder of Ting, the link between community and team, organizes inspiring events, gives interviews, and represents Ting in public. And a fun fact about her is that she loves her self-chosen hometown, Biel, even more than bus rides in autumn.

How does Ting work

It’s actually quite simple: many different people pay money into a community account, and this money is disbursed back staggered to the community as temporary basic income. All those who have an idea of their own can draw money from the joint account. This idea (in Ting lingo “development”) must meet four criteria. It must be intrinsically motivated, should have a positive effect on the biography, should contain a value for society, and has to be legally compliant. To implement this redistribution of funds, Ting makes use of the so-called apportionment procedure (similar to the Swiss AHV). There are three membership forms: Enable, Boost, and Transform. What makes the difference? As an Enabler, you invest in people without return; as a Booster and Transformer, you can draw the mentioned money.

A lot of digital for a lot of people

Anyone who now thinks of dusty machinery with high overhead costs: you’re so wrong. The majority of processes at Ting are digital and automated. For example, who decides who gets to draw money? Everyone in the community! Everyone who wants to can participate as a reviewer. Digitally, reputable, democratically, and anonymously: the diverse community decides self-determined on the use of the community money. And that's not all: Every member has access to a forum for exchange and a cockpit with graphics to drool over. The entire knowledge about community development, income, and expenses as well as other entrepreneurial aspects are thus available to everyone and not just the core team. Full transparency thanks to the digital space. Hurrah. But why? When the technical-administrative processes are automated, on the one hand, money is saved for the community and on the other hand, everyone has more time for what is really important: the people. This creates a strong network that not only shares money but also experiences and knowledge. We also organize frequent get-togethers, collaboration- and community events and are constantly evolving to connect more people with similar values.

Diversity makes for a resilient community

The Ting members are very diverse. An aspect that is extremely important to us. Ting is ideally meant to fill gaps in the system and is therefore open to everyone. On the one hand, Ting should help everyone who falls through the cracks in the process of finding forms of funding, grants, and self-financing. On the other hand, it also breaks social patterns. The percentage of women at Ting is, for example, high. We have many female members who apply for the money. Most of them apply for money for their personal development, that is, for further education or training, or for self-employment. No wonder a need is felt here: many women are modest because that's how we were socialized. It is harder for us to stand up confidently and say: I have a great idea, and now I need money. Our members, who only support and do not receive money (= Enablers), also come from very different corners: Whether future-oriented thinkers with a heritage or full-blooded entrepreneurs in search of a meaningful donation portfolio, up to average earners - the bunch is very diverse. And that makes us equally happy and thankful.

"Ting is like break dancing. Everyone gets to be in a circle for a change while the others cheer."

Ondine Riesen, Co-Founder Ting Community

Ting - in a nutshell

Ting is the community that creates space for change. With monthly contributions, we generate common wealth, which is available to all members as temporary income. This redistribution creates space for new ideas, innovation, and reorientation. We share money, invest in people, create time, advocate for more opportunities and shape the future. Interested in the concept of Ting?

Watch the video below in German or join the community online 🔗 Ting Community

🎙 A living connection and collaboration between Athens and Zürich

Here’s the co-story of Tina and Patrycja—two women passionate about self-development, life-long learning, and DEI enablement. Tina Vaphiadis from OLUVME invited Patrycja Pielaszek from WeCoCo to an Instagram Live interview. Find out what their #RealTalk was all about.

Following WeCoCo’s Instagram account for a while, Tina was intrigued by the community’s mission of connection and collaboration. This is why she reached out to us to invite our founder Patrycja to an interview about diversity, equality, and inclusion, but also about growth.

The inspiration behind WeCoCo

In 2018, Patrycja started sharing content on Instagram which was disruptive, encouraging, and inspiring with the tag name @women_connect_collaborate—this is how it all started. Even in her wildest dreams, she could not imagine how many like-minded people felt understood and included in those short stories of female change-makers.

Her very first IG post was on January 28th, 2018

women_connect_collaborate

Because together we can! 💪🏻💪🏼💪🏽💪🏾💪🏿 Let’s connect, let’s network,

and let’s empower and inspire each other!

The followership on Instagram grew organically and fast. Today, almost four years and around 800 posts later, there are nearly 13K followers from all over the world. The content is carefully curated and clearly reflects the diversity, from different angles—color, age, culture, gender, and more. Soon, the community was asking for more channels and in-person meet-ups. This is how the platform WeCoCo.io was born.

Obviously, there were a few backlashes and strong comments from discriminators as well. After discussing them in the closer community circle, they agreed to not delete these kind of comments in order to truly embrace diversity. The most important thing that really counts is how you react to aggression and how you ignore negative vibes and re-focus on something positive.

Still fitting in or already belonging?

The paragraph above shows how powerful a community is that always has your back—no matter what life throws at you.

“Fitting is changing yourself in order to be part of a group whereas belonging is that moment when you know you are where you meant to be, you are accepted for who you are.”

—Brené Brown

That is exactly what WeCoCo strives for. It cannot be controlled if someone finds this sense of belonging. It can only be enabled. That’s what WeCoCo is for: to enable a feeling of belonging. When you have this feeling of belonging, that’s when you can achieve those small miracles that happen every day, that grow into this powerful experience of deep connection.

Why communities are important

It is an imperative for everyone that their voice is heard. Communities are the place where everyone can lean on someone and be able to speak and know that someone is listening. This is why communities are so important. Strong communities are critical because they're often an important source of social connection. Participating in a community bonded by attitudes, values, and goals is an essential ingredient to enjoying a fulfilling life.

Tune in and watch the full #RealTalk of Tina and Patrycja here:

Or watch it on Instagram and leave a comment with your thoughts 🙏

Together, powered by collaboration, we achieve more!

About the #RealTalk partners

Tina Vaphiadis, @oluvme, based in Athens/Greece, is a LifeSkills-, Mindset-, Academic-Coach empowering adults, teens, and children.

Patrycja Pielaszek, @patrycjapie, based in Zürich/Switzerland, is the founder of WeCoCo.

WeCoCo—A community to speak out loud

WeCoCo is an open space for everyone to speak their ideas and thoughts out loud and to inspire others to start co-creating. One tool to do so is giving a voice to more inspiring Co-Stories. Connecting people and collaborating to make an impact is what drives community members at WeCoCo.

Wondering what kind of collaboration story to share?—Well, we want it all!

All the good and the not-so-good, all the positive surprises, the hard work, the road bumps. Tell the community the whole story from start to end how you connected and what your collaboration is all about! Sharing is caring!

Don’t be shy and share your co-story via this form 🔗

Or would you also like to get involved in the WeCoCo Community?—Check out the opportunities on our website and don’t forget to sign up to our news.