ComMUNiqué

The Genesis of MUN Impact - Part 1 of 2

September 02, 2020 Lisa Martin & Natabara Rollosson Season 1 Episode 1
ComMUNiqué
The Genesis of MUN Impact - Part 1 of 2
Show Notes Transcript

The genesis of MUN Impact is truly a globe-trotting adventure, ranging from the San Diego Comic-Con to the Movenpick Hotel in Qatar.  Lisa Martin, MUN Impact Executive Director, and Natabara Rollosson, creative producer with decades of experience working with the UN, have a lively conversation recounting the steps that led to the creation of MUN Impact and how it developed into what is today a truly global movement. - Part 1 of 2.

Join Erik Novak in this 2-part episode moderating this fascinating discussion.

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Podcast Name: ComMUNiqué

Podcast Producer: MUN Impact

Episode Title: The Genesis of MUN Impact - Part 1

Episode Number: 1

Host: Eric Novak

Guest: Lisa Martin and Natabara Rollosson

Date Published: August 2nd 2020

Episode Description: The genesis of MUN Impact is truly a globe-trotting adventure, ranging from the San Diego Comic-Con to the Movenpick Hotel in Qatar.  Lisa Martin, MUN Impact Executive Director, and Natabara Rollosson, creative producer with decades of experience working with the UN, have a lively conversation recounting the steps that led to the creation of MUN Impact and how it developed into what is today a truly global movement. - Part 1 of 2.

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Erik Novak: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to this, our second episode of ComMUNiqué. I am your host, Erik Novak. Today. I have the pleasure of moderating, a dialogue between Lisa Martin and Natabarra Rollosson on the origins of MUN Impact, which is of course the organization focused on these empowerment that also oversees the same podcast. Lisa is the founder and executive director of MUN Impact and Online Model United Nations.

She has spent the past two decades dooming and developing MUN programs, leadership events, summits, and online programs for middle and high school students. She founded MUN Impact in 2017 while serving as director of THIMUN Qatar, a post she held from 2014 to 2018. On the other hand, Natabarra is a creative producer who coordinates high level United Nations events that have taken place on five different continents, he recently produced logistics for the UN Secretary General's climate action summit in New York. He has worked with multiple UN agencies, including the UNDP, The UNEP, The UNFCC, UNICEF, the UNFDA and the SEFH. In addition to events, he has coordinated logistics for the UN Secretary General's high level panel on the post 2015 framework, which included heads of state, nobel laureates, and experts from around the world develop the blueprints for the sustainable development goals. Now, our story regarding the origins and development of MUN impact takes us from the San Diego Comic Con to the Movenpick hotel in Qatar, a truly global trodding adventure. So without further ado, let's get started. My understanding is that this all started indeed with the Comicon itself. So why don't you guys tell me a little more about that fateful day?


Natabara Rollosson: [00:02:00] Well,  thanks Erik. I was,  at our booth for Comics United Nations. It's an organization or an entity that I co founded to illustrate the SDGs through the medium of comics. And we managed to somehow get a booth right behind or beside the Marvel booth. So we had a lot of traffic. In San Diego Comic Con, which is the mother of all Comic Cons.

And,  one afternoon,  I was at the booth with some of my colleagues and Lisa came by with some of her kids and,  started asking very informed questions I might say about the SDGs. Lisa, do you remember that? 

Lisa Martin: [00:02:45]  so yes, I do remember that quite vividly. I was at Comicon with my daughters and I probably did not fit the typical profile of people wandering through that huge exhibition hall.

 and it's not often that you see the SDG logos prominently displayed,  at Comicon and it's true, this was a prime piece of real estate and thousands, tens of thousands of people passing by. So this was a great excuse for me to stop and talk about something I was interested in,  promptly lost my daughter in the crowd and,  had a very engaging conversation with the something that I thought the students back in Doha would be interested in learning more about, which is the SDGs through comics. 


Natabara Rollosson: [00:03:32] And then you invited me to Qatar. 


Lisa Martin: [00:03:36] Yeah. Yes. And actually I was, I remember going home and thinking, Oh, I hope I have the budget for that, but anyway, we'll make it work out, but I just thought that it would be high interest. And  and indeed it was. 

Erik Novak: [00:03:51] May I ask what year this was, and also most importantly, were you dressed as wonder woman?


Lisa Martin: [00:04:00]  well, so what, this would have been 2017 and no, I definitely, I don't do cosplay. So I was very much in my mom attire. 


Natabara Rollosson: [00:04:13] So we, we, yeah, we communicated then by email and phone. And then,  I found myself,  flying to work for the,  QLC, the Qatar leadership.  What is it? What's the C stand for?


Lisa Martin: [00:04:29] Conference.


Natabara Rollosson: [00:04:30] Conference. Yes. And I was just so impressed. I'm moving around. It's an amazing facility, but you see all these students all dressed up real nice and,  having all these really engaging,  kind of breakout sessions and,  opportunities to teach each other and share things with each other and inspire each other.

And I was just amazed with the energy for there. It was really something. And then they have these big plenary meetings. Everyone got together in this huge,  auditorium.  performance hall and,  it was just great to see all this around, you know, the model United Nations and that spirit. It was really inspiring for me as someone who just works head down at the UN most of the time.


Erik Novak: [00:05:22] Lisa, will you be able to, to give a little bit of context surrounding how you came to be the coordinator of THIMUN Qatar and what's the culture of leadership conferences is and how that relates to your life experiences you are of course, an American. So how did you come to be in the Middle East? How did you come to get the position in Qatar and,  what came to be the culture of leadership conference?


Lisa Martin: [00:05:49] Yeah, THIMUN Qatar is 10 years old. And so,  the founder was ready to move on. After a couple of years after having this, I spent many years in Doha and we, he had come to know of each other through my online model UN program. And so he was an early supporter of that. And THIMUN Qatar generously underwrote,  our online.

A conference space for many years. So anyway, when he was ready to move on, he asked me to apply. And the first time I actually met him was at the first Qatar leadership conference. So his reasoning behind starting this event was that,  for, for the style of MUN that he was promoting, which was very much student driven and student led there needed to be a place where students could go and get,  have the opportunity for skill development. So to practice, chairing, to practice public speaking. And so this incredible idea and this incredible event was quite small the first year. But by the time I arrived in Doha, I was able to,  move the event over to the Qatar National Convention Center and doubled its size.

And it just became this really very special event focusing on skill development and also the content that students really need to be, you know, good practitioners of Model UN. And so increasingly as time went along, that included the SDG's. So that's why that became both a permanent part of the program, along with all the other leadership and skill development that I think the QLC is really known for.


Erik Novak: [00:07:36] Wow, fantastic. Liza. And of course you met Natabarra in the comic con in 2017, and it seems to me that you need to be thought to yourself, he sure fits the profile for people I'd like to have on the leadership conference. And this is how you thought of inviting him. Correct? 


Lisa Martin: [00:07:57] Absolutely. And one of the best jobs and not many jobs have this, but to actually have a budget where you can,  look for interesting people and be able to pay their expenses,  and, and bring them to a place like Doha.

That was,  something I enjoyed being able to do every year. So,  yeah, Natabarra definitely fit a very special profile and,  Yeah. And then the rest was kind of history. That was really the start 


Erik Novak: [00:08:30] Fantastic, you mentioned recently,  which few minutes ago that he was quite impressed with the questions you were asking and your backward knowledge, which of course makes sense given what you were working with, but what about him particularly impressed you and made you think that he was an amazing fit for the conference itself?


Lisa Martin: [00:08:49] Oh, I, you know, I have to be honest. So here's, here's what we do.  and in Qatar, whenever we identify a speaker, then we try doing like a lot of research and, you know, looking on on websites and LinkedIn and, you know, what I saw was pretty much what Natabara had explained to me some of his, his own background and then quite a lot of work with,  comics, United nations.

 But,  beyond that, I, I remember, you know, when I met not a bar, it was in the summer and our speaker roster had already been set and our budget has had already been spent. So,  we did a quick check and,  thought we, we, we need to lock this in pretty quickly. And I dunno, it was just when you see someone promoting the SDGs and the UN at Comicon, I don't know, there's something kind of special and,  little bit out of the box about that. So that was enough for me. 

Erik Novak: [00:09:51] Very interesting. And I think to anyone who has met and engaged with Natabara, even slightly the word to me, at least the best describes in his sen as a person, as a personality about the way he engages. So Natabara,  how would you respond to this? So this,  to this feeling of,  tranquility, professional tranquility that you tend to exude.


Natabara Rollosson: [00:10:23] Well, then I must put on a really good show. There's a lot going on, but,  yeah, I mean, well, this back to the QLC, you know, we,  I got in front of this big auditorium to give a presentation on comics, United Nations, and then. You know, I had that chance to walk around and seeing all these different presentations in the smaller rooms that the students were giving. And it then was the last day or the last afternoon. And,  Lisa had invited me to this,  gathering of,  teachers and student leaders to kind of recap and,  kind of look forward, you know, what, what. You know, could be done maybe differently, better. And so,  I came to that gathering and, you know, there were a couple of things said, and then sometimes how,  the attention turned to me and I said, Hey, this is so amazing what you guys are doing.It's just such a great gathering of energy and dedication and enthusiasm. However,  it feels like it's kind of stuck in the conference hall. I'm not really hearing anything about taking that energy home to your,  you know, local community and doing anything. And also I'm not hearing at least at this conference, I didn't hear much about the sustainable development goals. So I thought it was, what, if you could kind of make these conversations you're having about the UN a little bit more relevant and a little bit. More attuned to what the UN is really focused on right now. And I I've just come off,  a couple of years working on the development of the SDGs. So they're kind of like burned into my DNA and I just felt like, gosh, this is such great content and inspiration,  that these students could really grab and run with. And particularly if they could take it home to their communities and apply it there and kind of looking around the room, you know, you never know how things are going to be received, but I could tell right away there was kind of a, a resonance,  kind of receptivity to that idea and even, and enthusiasm and excitement about it. So, yeah.


Lisa Martin: [00:12:44] And I'm actually looking at that photo right now, I have two,  not very high quality photos of that session, which I should. Also say that that was a throw away session. It was the last session of the last day and we had an extra spot and I thought, Oh, the heck I'll throw together. We'll be kind of a panel discussion.

Who knows if anyone will show up. I invited a few people.  but when I, I look at those pictures, you know, similar to what Natabarra has just described that there was a lot of engagement and I have a picture of, of not a bar in mid-sentence and. Everyone around the table is just like intently listening. Right. I'm looking at a friend of mine and her head is resting in her hands and she's just like really, really listening to this conversation. So there was a special energy that came out of that room.  and, and in part, it was like the question that. That, Natabarra asked that kind of crystallized all this energy around things that were already happening, but really didn't have a name or a purpose or a sense of direction.


Erik Novak: [00:13:53] So,  it was on that day, there were a couple of highlights, but this was, was definitely one of them. Amazing. You have a picture of the moment the seed was planted. What a, what a momento 


Lisa Martin: [00:14:06] I do, I have two of them ,yes, hanging above my desk. 


Erik Novak: [00:14:11]  I wanted to briefly ask Natabara, what was your prior exposure to Model UN before the leadership conference?


Natabara Rollosson: [00:14:23] It goes back to my high school days and I'm kind of embarrassed to tell this story, but anyway,  you know,  there was. There was a university. I was in going to school in Portland, Oregon. And,  they was a big model UN conference happening at the University of Oregon down,  in the middle of the state where it's kind of a party university or whatever. And,  and I have a lot of friends who had graduated on there. So I thought, well, that'd be kind of fun. And so,  I got some friends together and we,  became the delegation of Togo.  I just looked on the list of names and that one seems really,  unique and fun. So,  we went down and actually one of the guys that came was like,  like a national debate kind of champion. So, and I'll never forget we were in some kind of meeting and I don't, I don't know, I wasn't really to den, but he got up and moved the statement and yeah, it was pretty, pretty strong from Togo. And I don't even know what he said, but it's like,  you know, it kind of shook the rafters in the room. So anyway, that, that was my. Initial exposure, pneumonia. And first and last as a student, 


Lisa Martin: [00:15:43] I'm sorry. And I just want to interject that this is something that we knew nothing about until a group of us were in New York this past the past several months ago and Natabara just casually dropped, you know, that when he was a delegate of Togo and all of us were shocked because in all our interactions over the last two years, he had never mentioned any prior MUN experience.

So whenever we say something like. Yeah, the delegate of Togo, it's a little bit of an inside joke. Like the joke was on us here. We had no idea that Natabara had this immense or maybe not so immense MUN background, but, but there you have it. So he did bring some MUN expertise into the mix, whether he initially was willing to admit to it or not. I can see why he might be a little embarrassed. 


Erik Novak: [00:16:30] Well, that makes sense. And also at the same time, when he went to,  the QLC, at least had some sort of understanding of what the whole,  some sort of, I mean, personal exposure to what the whole thing was about. 


Lisa Martin: [00:16:45] Yeah. Unbeknownst to us. Yes. That was so true.


Erik Novak: [00:16:48] And then you basically didn't have much of an agenda for one of the last sessions. So you threw together something real quick and it turns out to have been perhaps the most consequential of them all. 


Lisa Martin: [00:17:02] Absolutely. Yeah. And I think a lot of the, a lot of the sessions at QLC are about students or teachers presenting, walking in with a very,  firm agenda of what they want to cover. And so this was just a conversation and you know, it also a good reminder to me that,  Keeping spaces for those conversations are actually really important, you know, whether it's online or face to face. Cause that's where all the that's where all the good stuff happens. 


Erik Novak: [00:17:29] Yeah. I think the conversation is definitely very important to the extent that was sensibly Model UN has always achieved its goal of stimulating youth to be, and such such conversations are necessary to remind people that there's a lot more to that hole regarding the implementation aspect as well, which is a.

Very robust part of what the UN actually does. And so having these conversations is particularly important. And to my, to the extent that I understand the story, that conversation reached a fever pitch slightly later, when you guys move to the Movenpick Hotel and Natabara gave an impassioned speech and presentation, perhaps you could tell me a little more about that Natabara.


Natabara Rollosson: [00:18:13]  I, then I defer to Lisa because I maybe I've blanked out on the imports and bits of that speech, but yeah, Imean, basically we're in the QLC and we realized this is only the beginning of the conversation and things were shutting down for the conference. So it, we relocated to,  the Movenpick that's where a lot of us were staying. And maybe we started in the lobby and we moved upstate. I can't remember it was this progressive discussion that just kept building. Lisa do you remember?


Lisa Martin: [00:18:49] I remember, you know, trying to wind down the, the final hours of the conference. And I remember not a bar approaching me and saying, I really want you when, and some of the others come to the hotel tonight.

I want to show you some things. And,  and I remember, Yeah, we, we met in the lobby and then we were wandering around trying to find a place where we could, could meet. So we ended up on the, in one of the conference rooms and, and I wish I had a picture of that meeting actually, because they're actually,  two of our board members, a former board member.

 we're, we're in that room. And,  Natabara just started sharing all these things, you know, world's largest lesson and videos and Natabara, what do you remember about, about that evening? But that's how we all ended up in that little conference room. 


Natabara Rollosson: [00:19:43] Okay. Now you're bringing it back. I think what happened was I was putting on a whole bunch of materials that came out of the launch of the SDG niche.

And I just wanted to kind of share them with people. So, they became aware of the SDGs, their importance, how inspiring they could be.  who's engaged with them already and what the trajectory could be with a student engagement. So it was kind of like a big download of all the inspiration and materials I was putting on for my travels with them. And,  and then, you know, seeing where the conversation would go from there, you know, everyone responding to it, like, aha, Oh, you know, we could do this, we can do that. Or we should be doing this. So it kind of was the spark in a way. 


Lisa Martin: [00:20:33] Yeah. And looking back, you know, the, the two events that day, the meeting at the QLC and then that evening,  there was something really,  really, really important about that meeting at the Movenpick. And when I try to reflect on why, part of what I realized is that, you know, teachers have a tendency to work in isolation a lot. I think it's why they like MUN because it's one thing that kind of also connects them with other MUN directors and gets them out of their classroom. And very rarely do people turn to educators and say, you're onto something you need to think big, you need to dream big. This is what it could look like. And, and I just remember. Feeling like a very humble educator, seeing these really beautifully produced videos and cartoons and promotions. And someone's saying, this is you, this, this is how you should be thinking of yourself. And,  I know that it was really, really,  inspirational and moving to a lot of us and yeah, no, the following day, Natabara left that evening and a large group of us followed up with what I call the thought leaders summit the following day. And it was just a group of MUN teachers and directors and practitioners.

And the day was to be spent talking about best practices within Model UN. But what ended up happening is after we all went home that night after getting like, this incredible vision of maybe what we should be aspiring to,  the next day ended up changing dramatically. And I can talk about that in a minute, but to me, the connection between what happened the next day,  really was linked to, if not a challenge, just certainly inspiration of where we needed to take this idea. And. Potentially this movement. And,  so by the time Natabara got on a plane, got on a plane that night, this idea had firmly taken root in people's minds and hearts. And, and we started really, we rolled up our sleeves the next day and really started to begin building it, building the organization. 


Erik Novak: [00:22:51] Well, It seems that Natabara's presence really embodies the Caesar quote. Veni VDV, Chambery not exactly conquered, but, ethnicity left his Mark and the consequences were immediately obvious. 


Natabara Rollosson: [00:23:07] I'm not sure if, if, if Caesar is the person I want to be, 


Erik Novak: [00:23:11] I guess it isn't exactly conquered, but certainly guided people toward an amazing direction with whose consequences are being reached at a very high level to this day.


Natabara Rollosson: [00:23:24] I should just point out that I was just kind of channeling the excitement about the SDGs and I have been kind of privy to kind of a fly on the wall for their creation and seeing other people get excited about them and what they did with them. So I was just kind of like relaying that excitement. And I guess what, you know, the beautiful thing about MUN impact is that it's trying to plug other people into.

Channel that themselves and spread it even further and make it grow. So,  I don't think it's really just one person. It's just, you know, the you know, tuning in to this excitement. I mean, about having the world look forward. Together to solving issues, building together and moving forward in a positive way.

 I think that's something really archetypal that y'all share deep down inside. So once we tap into it, there's a real excitement there and there's kind of a natural desire to share it. And you know, if that's one thing that MUN Impact can do it can be really changed the world. It's it's really heartening to see it grow.


Lisa Martin: [00:24:37] Yeah. And Natabara I think your comment also, you know, there is something about the SDGs has a tendency to inspire people. I don't know if it's catchy logos, like get their attention, but,  they, they, they, they do have a tendency to, to grab people's attention then. And I think, you know, just what happened at QLC is that there were these different kind of pockets of activity. There was the MUN activity. There were the fact that kids were already, doing things in their community, through their MUN club or individually, just because MUN is an impactful,  educational experience in and of itself. And then, you know, are the SDGs. And so to have someone to kind of just connect these dots,  pull it all together,  and then kind of lay out a vision that,  you know, we were onto something. It was just, it was really validating and. So much so, and this is kind of a funny story that that night,  after I left the Movenpick, I went home. I set up the MUN Impact a Twitter account and purchased a MUN Impact.org and someone else at that meeting went home and purchased munimpact.com and at the, at our meeting the next morning.  we said, okay guys, we were gonna brainstorm best practices, but we think we need to talk about impact and Model UN and supporting the SDGs. And so there was a lot of excitement around that. And,  I had to admit that we were ready to go because I had all our social media accounts and theURL already purchased. And. Then someone she purposely said, well, I actually did the same thing last night as well. So people left that meeting fired up and ready to go. And, and I'm also just really grateful that Natabara then over a course of a couple of weeks,  just continued with a series of emails that when I look back, I, I realized, you know, what's just providing kind of some guidance and some continued inspiration as we started to build the foundation of this and,  but that's another story, but it was an exciting couple of days.


Erik Novak: [00:26:48] I can imagine,  from my granted very limited vantage point as a, as a student and immune participant over the past several years, what I've realized is that the SDGs have, year upon year become more relevant, where conferences are actually acknowledging that they are a things and have certainly very relevant and impactful things and starting to explore them at greater length. So, since they were only established truly in 2015, I think it's taken a few years for the community to actually engage behind them. And with that said, in order to keep out stipulated lengths of just over or under half an hour per episode, Our listeners can continue following this exciting dialogue, the next step to the community or report in one tool. It's split. If you enjoyed our conference, don't forget to like share, follow, subscribe, and show to your friends and colleagues. We hope to see you next time. But for now, this has been ComMUNiqué and we yield the floor until next time.