Konica Kochar: We can’t do anything alone

Not that long ago, Konica Kochar was finishing her undergraduate degree at UWaterloo with a term at GreenHouse. Today, she is at law school at the University of Ottawa.

Konica came to GreenHouse with a wide variety of passions. She credits the program with helping her figure out which one to work on. “GreenHouse helped me take one of those passions and start gaining practical experience, making connections with people in the field and finding out what was being done.” Konica helped develop a Facebook page called Homelessness in Waterloo Region, which profiled the stories of homeless people, in their own words.

One particular skill that has helped Konica is networking. “Before I came to GreenHouse, I wasn’t really comfortable with the idea of not knowing someone, and then having someone introduce you so you can ask them for things. But I’ve come to realize we can’t do anything alone. We help each other and need each other’s connections.” This skill helped Konica to approach one of her professors to explain what she had worked on at GreenHouse and to ask if they knew anyone doing similar work — which was how she got introduced to the project she’s now working on.

Konica is working with a professor on a research project examining how homeless people experience the law. The project is giving Konica the opportunity to expand her creative skills by learning how to tell stories through digital media. Last summer, she developed training materials to help street-involved people tell their stories. Konica plans to draw on the experience of some of her cohort from GreenHouse who have more experience with digital storytelling.

She adds,