December 19, 2025 • 28 mins
After 128 programs in 2023, our podcast of the year goes to Sofie Roux. Sofie is 19 years old and is wise for her age.
Sofie has a "condition of the heart" that started with helping students in Malawi. How can a person use the tools they have to help others, especially those without electricity and basic needs?
Sofie poses the question- how can we create and innovate to help the future world, especially for young women?
Perhaps being significant starts with a design mentality.
Learn more about Bloombox Designs. at www.bloomboxdesignlabs.com.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/success-made-to-last-legends--4302039/support.
Sofie has a "condition of the heart" that started with helping students in Malawi. How can a person use the tools they have to help others, especially those without electricity and basic needs?
Sofie poses the question- how can we create and innovate to help the future world, especially for young women?
Perhaps being significant starts with a design mentality.
Learn more about Bloombox Designs. at www.bloomboxdesignlabs.com.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/success-made-to-last-legends--4302039/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey, welcome back to success made the last time Rick Tolkeeni.
This program is brought to you by Heather Barnes Media
and Play Audio. Our very special guest today is Sophie Rue, visionary,
gen z founder and CEO of Bloombox Design Labs. She
has done a remarkable number of things in her young life,
(00:32):
and I think it's underscored by her unwavering commitment to
women's education. We're gonna hear all about this from Sophie. Sophie,
welcome to our program.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thank you. It's an absolute honor to be here today.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I'm glad we were able to chase you down today
and would you please tell everybody the rest of your story,
including where you're from originally and your current educational system
there at the one and only Stanford University.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Of course, it'd be my pleasure. Hi everyone, I'm Sophie,
I am nineteen years old and I'm from Vancouver, Canada.
In my opinion, Vancouver is the most beautiful city on Earth.
We are surrounded by mountains and forests and ocean and
a glass city on the edge, and I think it
(01:22):
definitely informed my love of architecture and kind of its
intersections with the environment and sustainability. And I also grew
up going to all girls' schools, so I was sort
of always exposed to young women leading in all aspects
of life, be it on the field, you know, at
(01:44):
the math whiteboard, and in the art studio. And so
I think I always saw that the girls can do anything,
and I wanted to dedicate my life to promoting their
access to education around the world, especially as I learned
that that's not always the case for all girls.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
My more recent.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Ventures, so I guess I started by selling my artwork
to try to raise money to support girls' education, and
that was executed through raising money for water wells and
also sanitary pad making machines, and then most recently Bloomboxes.
So I am the founder of Bloombox Design Labs, which
is my public benefit company that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I'm really proud of. And then I think about every
minute of the day.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Which works to scale solar powered computer labs built out
of repurpose shipping containers with retractable roof systems to remote
off grid locations to provide high quality maker spaces for
students who may never have had access to electricity or
technology in their classrooms, and then I guess this past
So I started school at Stanford last year. I absolutely
(02:55):
loved it. I'm taking architecture, design and engineering, and I
found it to be a place better than I'd ever imagined,
even though I dreamed of it since I was really
little and I watched the lead female character in high
school musical attemps Stanford, I made it my mission to
(03:16):
go there as well, and and yeah, it's just a
magical place. But then I decided to take a quarter
off of school to work full time on my company.
So that's kind of where I'm at now. I'll be
returning to Stanford in the winter. But I've learned a
lot about business and life and leadership and I'm really
(03:37):
excited to be leading this company and to have the
privilege to talk about it today.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, truly amazing. And Sophie, I want you to tell
our listening audience about the moment of that idea being born,
the epiphany of.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Bloombox as thanks for asking. I think for me, it
was nothing has ever come to me like out of
the blue. I think it's always been sort of a process.
So with Bloombox, I guess I've always Okay, how do
(04:17):
I start this? I think addressing challenges requires like taking
a design thinking approach. That's how I've always done it
is to try to see how I can leverage design
to address big problems.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
So it's sort of just been reactionary.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And so I visited a school in Malawi and I
got to spend some time there painting a mural at
a high school. And in those days I got to
spend kind of interacting with students as they would come
in and out of classrooms and hearing about, you know,
their interests and passions. And I came home and I
got me thinking, like, you know, these are amazing high
school students with no electricity in their classroom.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
How can I help? All I really knew how to
do was designed a solution.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
So I wanted to do that, and I thought it
was bigger than just bringing computers or bringing solar panels.
I wanted them to have a space to create. I
also knew that anything that I built in Vancouver would
have to be shipped to Malawi anyways. So that's kind
of how the idea for why don't we use the
structure of the container itself as the lab and then
pack everything inside and build it out of that later
(05:21):
kind of came to be, and I found that that's
been my model for this whole project.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Even as we scale, it's just how can.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
We use the tools we have to to kind of
build the best possible solution, So that that's what was born.
It was born out of a lot of conversations with mentors,
asking a lot of questions. Because I was in the
tenth grade when when it started, so I had no
architectural training. I feel very lucky about how it evolved.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, I'm going to ask you a series of questions
that have been designed around I think the intersection of
a lot of domains, and the first one is tell
us about the role of sustainable architecture in enhancing educational experiences.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
This is something I think about every minute. I think
that sustainable architecture is, of course the future of the planet.
We need to be designing for all the challenges we're
facing overpopulation, climate change, require us to be rethinking the
(06:36):
way we uh the way we.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Build the future to to kind of support the way
our world is moving. And then as it relates to
girls' education, I think that there's something to be said
about having a space where you feel welcome to create
and to innovate. I think that girls have often been
excluded from having a seat at the table when it
(07:00):
comes to stem and even steam fields, and so I
think there's this interesting intersection where we need to be
creating spaces where at the junior school and high school
age girls and boys are learning together so that they
grow up never seeing kind of a difference between their abilities,
(07:20):
and we have the opportunity to do that sustainably and
at scale. So I think it's more than just curriculum.
It's all of that. All of those things, teachers and
equipment play huge roles, but I think it's that story
of creating a space where you belong, your ideas matter,
and kind of what you dream of creating will make
(07:42):
our world better.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
If that's the narrative of the spaces we can make.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
And I think the way that we can tell that
story is by having you know, mobile furniture that allows
for the space to transform for student needs, to have them,
you know, equipped with anything a kid would need to
kind of make something they care about. I think that
tells the story that you belong here and your ideas matter.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And then if we can make the system.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Itself, solar powered, off grid mobile, then we have the
potential to reach more kids and unlock more potential, which
as a global society we need because these problems we're
facing our.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Heart and so we need all hands on deck.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
And I think there's something interesting, which is that, like
my life has been centered around maker spaces, like building
the bloom Box has been a make your space assembly
line in itself, and so I kind of want to
allow kids to have the opportunities that I've had, and
this was my dream. I hope they can build their
dreams similarly and with the same level of quality resources
(08:45):
in their environments.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
So impressive. I think one of the things in researching
bloom Box before the show, we wanted to ask you
who in the world taught you how to be a
devout collaborator.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
That's a that's beautiful. I'd have to say.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Everything I know about, like how to treat people with
love and respect, and how to have the courage to
stand up for myself and ask questions. I think has
come from my family, my parents and and my grandma
for sure. I think they sort of instilled in me
this idea that I might not always have answers to
(09:35):
big problems, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't ask big
questions and that I shouldn't feel problems deeply.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
And then to kind of always be open to learning
and getting better.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I I'm mentoring a field sustainable global development architecture that
I think is is pretty new, and then I think
we have a chance to shape.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And so I think part of like being a collaborator.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Is is being always open to learning and learning from
people from different backgrounds at all times, different training and
expertise and and all ages and and so I think
I definitely have seen that model in my mom too.
My mom and I work closely on Bloombox together. She's
(10:22):
my head of logistics actually, and I've watched her model
of leadership, which is kind of to lead from the
back and to support other people, making them feel that
I know that their ideas matter as well.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
I think that's that's the best way to collaborate.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
And and also one more thing is I think that
if you share a vision that other people believe in,
you know they will they will apply their unique skills
to it, and you need that. So I think bringing
people in and showing them that there their expertise has
a lot of value in what you're trying to do
(11:00):
makes the environment better and more collaborative for everyone.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
So yeah, my family for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Yeah, indeed it does. Thank you for that. And here's
hats off to your family. I want you to tell
us a little bit more about the intersection of technology,
design and education in creating this holistic learning environment.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Intersection technology design and education, Okay, Well, I think that
there's no more exciting field than design right now. And
I think that if we take this design thinking approach,
which is an iterative process, which you know it starts
with empathizing, ideating, prototyping, testing, and then doing that again,
(11:45):
we're able to be sensitive to needs when we're designing,
and we're able to be thoughtful about about how we're
making design decisions, and we're able to bring exciting technological
innovations into it. And then also I think part of
that is like.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Listening to what students and teachers need, so that ties
into the education piece.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I think those three things are what I think about
on a daily basis all the time.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And I love that what I do allows me to be.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Working on the design side of things and always making
the design and technology better while constantly furthering our mission to.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Get more girls access to high quality education.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
I think that it's the future, and I love Like
the other day, I went back to my high school
that I graduated from a couple of years ago, and
I gave a speech on design thinking. But it was
really cool to see that just in the times that
since I'd graduated, they had design thinking posters on the
wall and they were integrating it into their classes and discussions.
(12:52):
And just the fact that I've been asked to speak
on that topic when you know, it was just an
emerging idea when I.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Was in middle school and high school is exciting.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
And I think our world is definitely barreling towards kind
of these interdisciplinary fields in education. So I don't know,
I'm really excited about it and excited to be part
of it.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
You should be, you should be. Something happened to you
in Malawi, and I I think that you've got a
new heart condition, and I want you to describe what
happened to your heart after that trip.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Of course, you're you're right. I've had the privilege of
visiting Africa since I was little, mostly South Africa, with
my parents.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
And the first time I went to Malawi was a
little bit different because it was the first time that
I'd contributed some tiny amount of value, which was to
raise money for a whiles.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
So I felt it had a bit of a stake
in it.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
And we've got to go out to the site of
these wells and to to witness these well dedications and
meet the children and families that.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Would be using them. And I think, like when you're
out there, it was a little bit hard.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
It was my mom and I and we were sitting
in the back of a truck.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
For you, it was seven hours driving into the heart.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Of these communities and and and camping, and it's nothing
like we'd ever done before. But in the moment it
was so fun and and and and just eye opening.
And then we got to like, uh London heatthrow and
I think, you know, we had just got on the
plane right away, right, so we were still sort of
covered in dust. And I remember, just like it was
(14:42):
the first time I was in ninth grade. I remember
my ninth grade year being kind of hard because I uh,
I think, like like other ninth graders, I felt the
need to really fit in and and to never like
take things too personally, uh, to never feel too deeply,
even though I was.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Doing everything all the time.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
But it was this moment I was just like, mom
like that, I don't know, I I just I burst
into tears and I I I could I couldn't help
myself from just like from from realizing how much I
wanted to help and how powerless I felt in helping.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
And I think that was definitely a pivotal moment for
me where.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
For the first time it was like, I have to
do something at scale and I'm going to do it
no matter what.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And I think I grew up a little bit in
that moment.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Uh and and and I think that's where, you know,
the idea for Bloombox started. After that, I I took
courses in architecture and and and Bloombox begun. But I
think that trip to Malawi, spending time with the high school,
learning from the kids.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I think it was a call to action for me.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
And so I feel very grateful I was able to
go muse.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
If you didn't hear it, that was the lightning in
a bottle moment, because that's when Sophie moved over from
some notion of what success looks like to significance in
the ninth grade, so proving that it can happen to
(16:21):
you at any time. And Sophie, that's the reason why
you're on the show today is to inspire others to
move their focus from just themselves to others.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Beautiful.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Well, I don't know if I can be an inspiration
in any way, but thank you for saying it like that.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
It's cool to be here, you bet.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
We're gonna be right back after a commercial message. But
tell our listeners where they can go to find out
more information on bloom Box and possibly contribute to this
great enterprise and movement.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Please check out bloom Box, design Labs dot com or
our Instagram, Sparkly, dot and dot smart, or feel free
to contact me Sophie at Stanford dot EEDU.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
That's Sophie with an F.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Thank you, you bet, and we will be right back
with Sophie Roue in just a moment.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Hello.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
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(17:43):
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Speaker 1 (17:57):
And we're back with Sophie Rue and on the back
half of this show, we're gonna ask her a few other,
uh perhaps deeper, more philosophical questions. And of all the
people that we've interviewed, the ones that have attempted to
be masters of a variety of domains, from design to
(18:20):
architecture to music, we have labeled them as polymaths. Have
you ever been called a polymath?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I haven't, but that's a wonderful label.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah. The ones that we that are our favorites in
life are Archimedes and da Vinci and even Ben Franklin
and Albert Einstein who used to go off and do
something different to come up with a different solution to
(18:54):
a problem. So if if you were to take off
for a week or so and go somewhere and do
something to be inspired to solve another problem. What would
you be doing?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Wow, well, that's an excellent question. You know, I've always
wanted to climb Kilimanjaro, which is okay, okay, wait, there's
two answers.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
One is to climb Killimanjaro and the other is to
ride a bike from Cairo to Cape Town.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Both of these experiences would be purely physical, which is
not something I'm used to. But there there are things
I wanted to do, one with my mom and one
of my best friend from high school. I think that,
like any opportunity to see more of the world is important,
and also to be reminded that you know you have
(19:53):
the strength with then you to do hard things. Sometimes
I feel like running a small business is a lot
a little bit like a long endurance bike ride where
you're constantly getting hit in the face with random challenges
and it's hard to keep going.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I think maybe the bike ride would be a good
analogy for life after I finish. And the other thing is, yeah,
just to spend time with people that I love it.
It always reminds me of like why I do things,
and it inspires me to think of things from a
different angle, and then I think reaching the top or
(20:30):
reaching Cape Town would be a pretty significant moment and
just a good reminder for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
I think, thank you for that. We've had the good
fortune of traveling around the world, and over the course
of time we've become archaeologist. And I would say, fans
of architecture, if there were two or three buildings or
bridges around the world that you admire, what are they?
Speaker 3 (20:58):
The first one would be, uh, Javier Synosian's organic house.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It's a beautiful house with no corners.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
He's a Mexican architect inspired by traditional uh like I
guess story like Mexican storytelling, as well as like just
the nature he surrounds himself with.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
I think I would love to see that place, uh,
and to hear the sounds house sound bounces off those walls,
and to consider how he thought about the environment in
every single design decision. That would be one. Okay. Number two.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
I worked for an architect in Utah and uh okay,
Oh my gosh, okay, there's five uh. Two architects. I
work for one in Utah who was designing house kind
of on Powder Mountain, which I I only got to
see in the summer I would love to see it
in the winter because he gave me my first job
(22:06):
in architecture during COVID when nobody else had given internship
to a fifteen year old kid, and I really believe
in his work a lot. I worked for an architect
in Newfoundland and I spent this past summer kind of
learning sketch up and doing this very tedious model. It
(22:28):
was the first time I had to translate plans into
like a real three D model, and I asked too
many questions and I really annoyed my deskmate Dave. But
I'd love to see it in real life. It was
a women's house, an indigenous women's house, and sometimes when
I would get really annoyed with all the controls I
didn't know how to use, I would remember that it
(22:49):
was to serve some pretty incredible women.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
So I'd love to see that in action.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Oh very good. So you've got this notion of including
design in future curriculum, and I bet you it touches
all fields. And my dad happened to be a designer.
So I am drinking your kool aid because I think
(23:16):
design is at the basis of great Design is at
the basis of everything. Including a great jazz band. It's
about how you design in the chemistry and it's collaboration.
So the older I get, the more I'm seeing design
is the center of everything. And I just bought a
(23:39):
book for Christmas for my son in law that was
about geometry and design that you see in nature, and
it had so many things that were related to ancient history.
It's like, I am blown away by the importance of design,
and I'm wondering in your lifetime what you want to
(24:00):
have accomplished in terms of getting design into everybody's head
and into practice.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I think collaboration and design are at the heart of everything,
and I think that, yeah, people are starting to realize
that taking a design approach is important. But I think
what I would want people to realize is that the
challenges we're facing in this century, like I was saying,
their urgent to add their complex getting like universal access
(24:31):
to proper health care, clean water education, addressing climate change,
supporting the people that are most disproportionately affected by climate change.
As we move into like an even more connected reality,
I think digitally as well, we're going to need to
be making ethical decisions and we're going to be needing
(24:54):
to take this design thinking approach.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
So I think if everyone could use design as a
tool to backle the problems that care about, that they
care about most, I think I think that would be important.
I know I keep coming back to the design thinking approach,
but really what it is is it's a guideline for
being thoughtful and relentless when you're pursuing a solution. So
(25:17):
so I think if people could see design rather than
like an isolated field that's very connected to you know,
visual art, I think, and if they could see it
instead as just a tool in their tool belt for
doing what they want to do. I think that there
are huge intersections in almost every field we can think of.
So that's what I would want. I want people to
feel supported by design and included in it, even if
(25:40):
they don't see themselves as designers.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Sophie, you are remarkable and you are one of those
rare people who have moved from success to significance already,
and we want to make sure that our listening audience
supports you. And we also want to feature you in
a book called Conversations of Significance, and you will be
(26:06):
I can guarantee you will be the youngest person that'll
be featured. It is exciting, but you you so richly
deserve it. I also want to thank your mom for
the positive influence that that she's has and continues, and
and make sure folks to remember that your your children,
(26:29):
your offspring are the the future for the world. And
so thank you. Thanks mom for for what you've done,
and all your other mentors. Give out your website one
more time so our listening audience can support you.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Thank you, Rick.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
It's bloombox Design Labs at dot com. That's b l
o O m b o Xdesign Labs dot com. Or yeah,
you can follow us on social media, but it's at
Sparkly and smart, which was the social enterprise I started
when I was in the seventh grade.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
I can also send you those links. Maybe you could
distribute that. Thank you very much, and yeah, thanks for sorry.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
I just I just wanted to say, like, thanks for
forgiving you for sharing your platform with me. I think
it's it's really lucky that I get, you know, chances
like this to kind of reflect on what I'm doing,
because I'm very new at all this and I don't
know what I'm doing or.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
If I have any wisdom.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
But it definitely helps me reset and get reinspired to
keep on going.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
You bet you've got such clarity. I hope that the
the rest of your journey, and especially in college, doesn't
muddy up your clarity. So try to stay clear with
this discernment and remember the way you are right now, okay,
because there's a there's so much richness to that simplicity
(28:07):
being profound and pure and focused especially on design. That
was Sophie Rue, visionary, founder and CEO of Bloombox Design Labs.
We appreciate her being on today and folks, as we
always say, we wish you a successful life and on
your way to significance. Have a grade dak
Hey, welcome back to success made the last time Rick Tolkeeni.
This program is brought to you by Heather Barnes Media
and Play Audio. Our very special guest today is Sophie Rue, visionary,
gen z founder and CEO of Bloombox Design Labs. She
has done a remarkable number of things in her young life,
(00:32):
and I think it's underscored by her unwavering commitment to
women's education. We're gonna hear all about this from Sophie. Sophie,
welcome to our program.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thank you. It's an absolute honor to be here today.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I'm glad we were able to chase you down today
and would you please tell everybody the rest of your story,
including where you're from originally and your current educational system
there at the one and only Stanford University.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Of course, it'd be my pleasure. Hi everyone, I'm Sophie,
I am nineteen years old and I'm from Vancouver, Canada.
In my opinion, Vancouver is the most beautiful city on Earth.
We are surrounded by mountains and forests and ocean and
a glass city on the edge, and I think it
(01:22):
definitely informed my love of architecture and kind of its
intersections with the environment and sustainability. And I also grew
up going to all girls' schools, so I was sort
of always exposed to young women leading in all aspects
of life, be it on the field, you know, at
(01:44):
the math whiteboard, and in the art studio. And so
I think I always saw that the girls can do anything,
and I wanted to dedicate my life to promoting their
access to education around the world, especially as I learned
that that's not always the case for all girls.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
My more recent.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Ventures, so I guess I started by selling my artwork
to try to raise money to support girls' education, and
that was executed through raising money for water wells and
also sanitary pad making machines, and then most recently Bloomboxes.
So I am the founder of Bloombox Design Labs, which
is my public benefit company that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I'm really proud of. And then I think about every
minute of the day.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Which works to scale solar powered computer labs built out
of repurpose shipping containers with retractable roof systems to remote
off grid locations to provide high quality maker spaces for
students who may never have had access to electricity or
technology in their classrooms, and then I guess this past
So I started school at Stanford last year. I absolutely
(02:55):
loved it. I'm taking architecture, design and engineering, and I
found it to be a place better than I'd ever imagined,
even though I dreamed of it since I was really
little and I watched the lead female character in high
school musical attemps Stanford, I made it my mission to
(03:16):
go there as well, and and yeah, it's just a
magical place. But then I decided to take a quarter
off of school to work full time on my company.
So that's kind of where I'm at now. I'll be
returning to Stanford in the winter. But I've learned a
lot about business and life and leadership and I'm really
(03:37):
excited to be leading this company and to have the
privilege to talk about it today.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, truly amazing. And Sophie, I want you to tell
our listening audience about the moment of that idea being born,
the epiphany of.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Bloombox as thanks for asking. I think for me, it
was nothing has ever come to me like out of
the blue. I think it's always been sort of a process.
So with Bloombox, I guess I've always Okay, how do
(04:17):
I start this? I think addressing challenges requires like taking
a design thinking approach. That's how I've always done it
is to try to see how I can leverage design
to address big problems.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
So it's sort of just been reactionary.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And so I visited a school in Malawi and I
got to spend some time there painting a mural at
a high school. And in those days I got to
spend kind of interacting with students as they would come
in and out of classrooms and hearing about, you know,
their interests and passions. And I came home and I
got me thinking, like, you know, these are amazing high
school students with no electricity in their classroom.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
How can I help? All I really knew how to
do was designed a solution.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
So I wanted to do that, and I thought it
was bigger than just bringing computers or bringing solar panels.
I wanted them to have a space to create. I
also knew that anything that I built in Vancouver would
have to be shipped to Malawi anyways. So that's kind
of how the idea for why don't we use the
structure of the container itself as the lab and then
pack everything inside and build it out of that later
(05:21):
kind of came to be, and I found that that's
been my model for this whole project.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Even as we scale, it's just how can.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
We use the tools we have to to kind of
build the best possible solution, So that that's what was born.
It was born out of a lot of conversations with mentors,
asking a lot of questions. Because I was in the
tenth grade when when it started, so I had no
architectural training. I feel very lucky about how it evolved.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, I'm going to ask you a series of questions
that have been designed around I think the intersection of
a lot of domains, and the first one is tell
us about the role of sustainable architecture in enhancing educational experiences.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
This is something I think about every minute. I think
that sustainable architecture is, of course the future of the planet.
We need to be designing for all the challenges we're
facing overpopulation, climate change, require us to be rethinking the
(06:36):
way we uh the way we.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Build the future to to kind of support the way
our world is moving. And then as it relates to
girls' education, I think that there's something to be said
about having a space where you feel welcome to create
and to innovate. I think that girls have often been
excluded from having a seat at the table when it
(07:00):
comes to stem and even steam fields, and so I
think there's this interesting intersection where we need to be
creating spaces where at the junior school and high school
age girls and boys are learning together so that they
grow up never seeing kind of a difference between their abilities,
(07:20):
and we have the opportunity to do that sustainably and
at scale. So I think it's more than just curriculum.
It's all of that. All of those things, teachers and
equipment play huge roles, but I think it's that story
of creating a space where you belong, your ideas matter,
and kind of what you dream of creating will make
(07:42):
our world better.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
If that's the narrative of the spaces we can make.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
And I think the way that we can tell that
story is by having you know, mobile furniture that allows
for the space to transform for student needs, to have them,
you know, equipped with anything a kid would need to
kind of make something they care about. I think that
tells the story that you belong here and your ideas matter.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And then if we can make the system.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Itself, solar powered, off grid mobile, then we have the
potential to reach more kids and unlock more potential, which
as a global society we need because these problems we're
facing our.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Heart and so we need all hands on deck.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
And I think there's something interesting, which is that, like
my life has been centered around maker spaces, like building
the bloom Box has been a make your space assembly
line in itself, and so I kind of want to
allow kids to have the opportunities that I've had, and
this was my dream. I hope they can build their
dreams similarly and with the same level of quality resources
(08:45):
in their environments.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
So impressive. I think one of the things in researching
bloom Box before the show, we wanted to ask you
who in the world taught you how to be a
devout collaborator.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
That's a that's beautiful. I'd have to say.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Everything I know about, like how to treat people with
love and respect, and how to have the courage to
stand up for myself and ask questions. I think has
come from my family, my parents and and my grandma
for sure. I think they sort of instilled in me
this idea that I might not always have answers to
(09:35):
big problems, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't ask big
questions and that I shouldn't feel problems deeply.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
And then to kind of always be open to learning
and getting better.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I I'm mentoring a field sustainable global development architecture that
I think is is pretty new, and then I think
we have a chance to shape.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And so I think part of like being a collaborator.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Is is being always open to learning and learning from
people from different backgrounds at all times, different training and
expertise and and all ages and and so I think
I definitely have seen that model in my mom too.
My mom and I work closely on Bloombox together. She's
(10:22):
my head of logistics actually, and I've watched her model
of leadership, which is kind of to lead from the
back and to support other people, making them feel that
I know that their ideas matter as well.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
I think that's that's the best way to collaborate.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
And and also one more thing is I think that
if you share a vision that other people believe in,
you know they will they will apply their unique skills
to it, and you need that. So I think bringing
people in and showing them that there their expertise has
a lot of value in what you're trying to do
(11:00):
makes the environment better and more collaborative for everyone.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
So yeah, my family for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Yeah, indeed it does. Thank you for that. And here's
hats off to your family. I want you to tell
us a little bit more about the intersection of technology,
design and education in creating this holistic learning environment.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Intersection technology design and education, Okay, Well, I think that
there's no more exciting field than design right now. And
I think that if we take this design thinking approach,
which is an iterative process, which you know it starts
with empathizing, ideating, prototyping, testing, and then doing that again,
(11:45):
we're able to be sensitive to needs when we're designing,
and we're able to be thoughtful about about how we're
making design decisions, and we're able to bring exciting technological
innovations into it. And then also I think part of
that is like.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Listening to what students and teachers need, so that ties
into the education piece.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I think those three things are what I think about
on a daily basis all the time.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And I love that what I do allows me to be.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Working on the design side of things and always making
the design and technology better while constantly furthering our mission to.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Get more girls access to high quality education.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
I think that it's the future, and I love Like
the other day, I went back to my high school
that I graduated from a couple of years ago, and
I gave a speech on design thinking. But it was
really cool to see that just in the times that
since I'd graduated, they had design thinking posters on the
wall and they were integrating it into their classes and discussions.
(12:52):
And just the fact that I've been asked to speak
on that topic when you know, it was just an
emerging idea when I.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Was in middle school and high school is exciting.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
And I think our world is definitely barreling towards kind
of these interdisciplinary fields in education. So I don't know,
I'm really excited about it and excited to be part
of it.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
You should be, you should be. Something happened to you
in Malawi, and I I think that you've got a
new heart condition, and I want you to describe what
happened to your heart after that trip.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Of course, you're you're right. I've had the privilege of
visiting Africa since I was little, mostly South Africa, with
my parents.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
And the first time I went to Malawi was a
little bit different because it was the first time that
I'd contributed some tiny amount of value, which was to
raise money for a whiles.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
So I felt it had a bit of a stake
in it.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
And we've got to go out to the site of
these wells and to to witness these well dedications and
meet the children and families that.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Would be using them. And I think, like when you're
out there, it was a little bit hard.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
It was my mom and I and we were sitting
in the back of a truck.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
For you, it was seven hours driving into the heart.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Of these communities and and and camping, and it's nothing
like we'd ever done before. But in the moment it
was so fun and and and and just eye opening.
And then we got to like, uh London heatthrow and
I think, you know, we had just got on the
plane right away, right, so we were still sort of
covered in dust. And I remember, just like it was
(14:42):
the first time I was in ninth grade. I remember
my ninth grade year being kind of hard because I uh,
I think, like like other ninth graders, I felt the
need to really fit in and and to never like
take things too personally, uh, to never feel too deeply,
even though I was.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Doing everything all the time.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
But it was this moment I was just like, mom
like that, I don't know, I I just I burst
into tears and I I I could I couldn't help
myself from just like from from realizing how much I
wanted to help and how powerless I felt in helping.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
And I think that was definitely a pivotal moment for
me where.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
For the first time it was like, I have to
do something at scale and I'm going to do it
no matter what.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And I think I grew up a little bit in
that moment.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Uh and and and I think that's where, you know,
the idea for Bloombox started. After that, I I took
courses in architecture and and and Bloombox begun. But I
think that trip to Malawi, spending time with the high school,
learning from the kids.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I think it was a call to action for me.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
And so I feel very grateful I was able to
go muse.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
If you didn't hear it, that was the lightning in
a bottle moment, because that's when Sophie moved over from
some notion of what success looks like to significance in
the ninth grade, so proving that it can happen to
(16:21):
you at any time. And Sophie, that's the reason why
you're on the show today is to inspire others to
move their focus from just themselves to others.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Beautiful.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Well, I don't know if I can be an inspiration
in any way, but thank you for saying it like that.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
It's cool to be here, you bet.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
We're gonna be right back after a commercial message. But
tell our listeners where they can go to find out
more information on bloom Box and possibly contribute to this
great enterprise and movement.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Please check out bloom Box, design Labs dot com or
our Instagram, Sparkly, dot and dot smart, or feel free
to contact me Sophie at Stanford dot EEDU.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
That's Sophie with an F.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Thank you, you bet, and we will be right back
with Sophie Roue in just a moment.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Hello.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
I'm Heatherbarnes, food and product photographer and storyteller behind the Lens.
Our Austin based team is all about visual solutions for
your brand. It's essential for your product to be memorable
and have stickiness. Our clients like Gear Deeli, Tips, Treets
and Natamoo choose our photography to develop positive associations with
their brand. They call our work inspiring because it moves
(17:43):
consumers into a relationship with their company, and we can
do the same for you. Learn more today at Heatherbarnes
dot com focused on you, your story, and your success
with memorable photography, garnished with luck.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
And we're back with Sophie Rue and on the back
half of this show, we're gonna ask her a few other,
uh perhaps deeper, more philosophical questions. And of all the
people that we've interviewed, the ones that have attempted to
be masters of a variety of domains, from design to
(18:20):
architecture to music, we have labeled them as polymaths. Have
you ever been called a polymath?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I haven't, but that's a wonderful label.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah. The ones that we that are our favorites in
life are Archimedes and da Vinci and even Ben Franklin
and Albert Einstein who used to go off and do
something different to come up with a different solution to
(18:54):
a problem. So if if you were to take off
for a week or so and go somewhere and do
something to be inspired to solve another problem. What would
you be doing?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Wow, well, that's an excellent question. You know, I've always
wanted to climb Kilimanjaro, which is okay, okay, wait, there's
two answers.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
One is to climb Killimanjaro and the other is to
ride a bike from Cairo to Cape Town.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Both of these experiences would be purely physical, which is
not something I'm used to. But there there are things
I wanted to do, one with my mom and one
of my best friend from high school. I think that,
like any opportunity to see more of the world is important,
and also to be reminded that you know you have
(19:53):
the strength with then you to do hard things. Sometimes
I feel like running a small business is a lot
a little bit like a long endurance bike ride where
you're constantly getting hit in the face with random challenges
and it's hard to keep going.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I think maybe the bike ride would be a good
analogy for life after I finish. And the other thing is, yeah,
just to spend time with people that I love it.
It always reminds me of like why I do things,
and it inspires me to think of things from a
different angle, and then I think reaching the top or
(20:30):
reaching Cape Town would be a pretty significant moment and
just a good reminder for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
I think, thank you for that. We've had the good
fortune of traveling around the world, and over the course
of time we've become archaeologist. And I would say, fans
of architecture, if there were two or three buildings or
bridges around the world that you admire, what are they?
Speaker 3 (20:58):
The first one would be, uh, Javier Synosian's organic house.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It's a beautiful house with no corners.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
He's a Mexican architect inspired by traditional uh like I
guess story like Mexican storytelling, as well as like just
the nature he surrounds himself with.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
I think I would love to see that place, uh,
and to hear the sounds house sound bounces off those walls,
and to consider how he thought about the environment in
every single design decision. That would be one. Okay. Number two.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
I worked for an architect in Utah and uh okay,
Oh my gosh, okay, there's five uh. Two architects. I
work for one in Utah who was designing house kind
of on Powder Mountain, which I I only got to
see in the summer I would love to see it
in the winter because he gave me my first job
(22:06):
in architecture during COVID when nobody else had given internship
to a fifteen year old kid, and I really believe
in his work a lot. I worked for an architect
in Newfoundland and I spent this past summer kind of
learning sketch up and doing this very tedious model. It
(22:28):
was the first time I had to translate plans into
like a real three D model, and I asked too
many questions and I really annoyed my deskmate Dave. But
I'd love to see it in real life. It was
a women's house, an indigenous women's house, and sometimes when
I would get really annoyed with all the controls I
didn't know how to use, I would remember that it
(22:49):
was to serve some pretty incredible women.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
So I'd love to see that in action.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Oh very good. So you've got this notion of including
design in future curriculum, and I bet you it touches
all fields. And my dad happened to be a designer.
So I am drinking your kool aid because I think
(23:16):
design is at the basis of great Design is at
the basis of everything. Including a great jazz band. It's
about how you design in the chemistry and it's collaboration.
So the older I get, the more I'm seeing design
is the center of everything. And I just bought a
(23:39):
book for Christmas for my son in law that was
about geometry and design that you see in nature, and
it had so many things that were related to ancient history.
It's like, I am blown away by the importance of design,
and I'm wondering in your lifetime what you want to
(24:00):
have accomplished in terms of getting design into everybody's head
and into practice.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I think collaboration and design are at the heart of everything,
and I think that, yeah, people are starting to realize
that taking a design approach is important. But I think
what I would want people to realize is that the
challenges we're facing in this century, like I was saying,
their urgent to add their complex getting like universal access
(24:31):
to proper health care, clean water education, addressing climate change,
supporting the people that are most disproportionately affected by climate change.
As we move into like an even more connected reality,
I think digitally as well, we're going to need to
be making ethical decisions and we're going to be needing
(24:54):
to take this design thinking approach.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
So I think if everyone could use design as a
tool to backle the problems that care about, that they
care about most, I think I think that would be important.
I know I keep coming back to the design thinking approach,
but really what it is is it's a guideline for
being thoughtful and relentless when you're pursuing a solution. So
(25:17):
so I think if people could see design rather than
like an isolated field that's very connected to you know,
visual art, I think, and if they could see it
instead as just a tool in their tool belt for
doing what they want to do. I think that there
are huge intersections in almost every field we can think of.
So that's what I would want. I want people to
feel supported by design and included in it, even if
(25:40):
they don't see themselves as designers.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Sophie, you are remarkable and you are one of those
rare people who have moved from success to significance already,
and we want to make sure that our listening audience
supports you. And we also want to feature you in
a book called Conversations of Significance, and you will be
(26:06):
I can guarantee you will be the youngest person that'll
be featured. It is exciting, but you you so richly
deserve it. I also want to thank your mom for
the positive influence that that she's has and continues, and
and make sure folks to remember that your your children,
(26:29):
your offspring are the the future for the world. And
so thank you. Thanks mom for for what you've done,
and all your other mentors. Give out your website one
more time so our listening audience can support you.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Thank you, Rick.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
It's bloombox Design Labs at dot com. That's b l
o O m b o Xdesign Labs dot com. Or yeah,
you can follow us on social media, but it's at
Sparkly and smart, which was the social enterprise I started
when I was in the seventh grade.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
I can also send you those links. Maybe you could
distribute that. Thank you very much, and yeah, thanks for sorry.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
I just I just wanted to say, like, thanks for
forgiving you for sharing your platform with me. I think
it's it's really lucky that I get, you know, chances
like this to kind of reflect on what I'm doing,
because I'm very new at all this and I don't
know what I'm doing or.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
If I have any wisdom.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
But it definitely helps me reset and get reinspired to
keep on going.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
You bet you've got such clarity. I hope that the
the rest of your journey, and especially in college, doesn't
muddy up your clarity. So try to stay clear with
this discernment and remember the way you are right now, okay,
because there's a there's so much richness to that simplicity
(28:07):
being profound and pure and focused especially on design. That
was Sophie Rue, visionary, founder and CEO of Bloombox Design Labs.
We appreciate her being on today and folks, as we
always say, we wish you a successful life and on
your way to significance. Have a grade dak
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