'A globalized interconnected world is no choice': An Interview with Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff

Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff is a member of the Responsible Leaders network of the BMW Herbert Quandt Foundation, an organization which “brings together leaders from across communities, cultures and countries to drive social innovation, promote global dialogue, and encourage responsible leadership.” Despite having a full-time career in finance, Simona works for a number of NGOs and is extensively involved in civic engagement. She is also very passionate about education and diversity and has been invited to speak on these subjects at various events in the UK, Hong Kong, Italy and Kenya. In addition to contributing to a number of academic and financial publications, she has authored two books: Parentesi Cubana (2003) and The Kids' Pocket Guide to the World (2015).

Simona recently talked with Education World about her latest book The Kids' Pocket Guide to the World (2015), which tackles complex themes like migration, economic disparity, and globalization.

Education World (EW):  What inspired you to write this collection of stories?

Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff: The Kids’ Pocket Guide to the World is borne out of a strong desire to show that an interconnected, open world is an ocean of opportunities, not a storm to shelter from. The stories have been inspired by the amazing people I have been privileged to meet in my life. For example, the character of Hope, the brave Kenyan pilot of the first chapter, is inspired by and based on the story of a girl I met in a school in Nairobi through the work I did with a local charity. Similarly, the character of Sister Luisa is based on a super-positive, larger-than-life Italian nun that I met in Asia and that unfortunately passed away a few years ago.

EW: Who is your book intended for?

Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff:The book is intended for my Godchildren and their lucky friends who will inherit this world of over seven billion people! While the book is targeting young adults, it seems to be quite popular with adults too as it introduces complex topics from access to credit to migration in an approachable way.

EW: Let’s talk a bit about the book. Many of these stories involve women from disparate cultural and economic backgrounds coming together to address a social concern (e.g., environmental waste, childhood obesity). In your opinion, why are these collaborative partnerships necessary for enacting impactful change?

Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff: We live in a “network society”; our success depends on the ability to work effectively with others. The complex and fast-changing nature of the challenges we face requires to bring together diverse teams with complementary skills and perspectives. To quote from the book, "We most definitely have a better chance to overcome [the world’s] challenges if we can count on the brains, hopes and dreams of seven billion people rather than just a handful!”

EW: You not only establish an interconnectedness between characters within a story, but also between characters from different stories in the book. Are these characters’ cameos in the other stories a way for you to show that community extends beyond the local? Or, is it a way of showing the boundlessness of human mobility in the age of globalization?

Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff: It is an attempt to show that local is indeed global; in other words, our society is so interconnected that anything that happens locally impacts and is impacted by the global dimension.

EW: These stories also seem to speak to an entrepreneurialism borne out of empathy for others and a desire to improve and empower the lives of others. Why was it important for you to present a depiction of entrepreneurship as a humanitarian endeavor rather than simply an opportunity for amassing wealth and self-aggrandizement?  

Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff: Entrepreneurship is a great source of innovation and growth; therefore, it is important to celebrate it and underline the role it can play in addressing the big challenges we face.

EW: There are several stories about migration in the book. Although there are different circumstances for why these characters and their families left their home countries, your characters’ immigrant stories seem to share some universal commonalities. Do you agree with that characterization?

Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff: Migration is right now center stage of the political debate. Children are exposed to a lot of sound-bites that tend to expose pretty black and white views on the subject. The stories in the book try to show how migration can contribute to growth and innovation; they are also a reminder that today's "natives" may be tomorrow's migrants. In “Ming Ming’s Merry Go Round,” we see how a couple of German migrants become the "native" hosts of a family of Chinese migrants to New Zealand.

EW: We also see a number of characters with multicultural backgrounds who embrace all aspects of their identity. Why do you feel it is important to portray these characters in this way?

Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff: I fundamentally believe that our own identity is massively enriched by the variety of people, places and cultures we come across. For example, in “The Frog and the Flower” story, we see how the Flower (Maria Vittoria) secures money for her child by building on the life experience of a migrant from Bangladesh.

EW: What do you want readers to take away from the book?

Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff: Quoting from the book, “The first piece of advice—to tell the truth, the only one in this pocket guide to this complicated world full of opportunities—is this: let the force of your dreams crush fear-o-saurs and their limits, so you will write the most beautiful story for your life and for others!” 

Simona was gracious enough to provide Education World with an excerpt from The Kids' Pocket Guide to the World. You can read the book's introduction below.

A globalized interconnected world is no choice: cheaper travel, innovative technologies and human curiosity are driving all seven billion of us ever closer…

Our everyday life is a testament to how interconnected and global we have become: we can order the same Starbucks latte in Beijing’s Forbidden City or next to the London Eye; via social networks like Facebook, we often know more about our virtual neighbors in other countries than the people actually living next door to us.

A globalized interconnected world is no choice; however, we can decide whether to see it as a threat or as an opportunity. . . . This booklet sided unequivocally and unashamedly with the latter option! Why? The world faces great challenges: there are more of us, we live longer, we consume more and we are needed less and less to produce the goods and services we want. Such challenges are truly global; know no boundaries; no frontiers. We most definitely have a better chance to overcome such challenges if we can count on the brains, hopes and dreams of seven billion people rather than just a handful!