Holley Somerville-Knott is the 11 yr old CEO & Founder of Stardust Foundation – a charity she created at age 8 to help the people, planet and animals in need.
Holley is an award winning Public Speaker – last year taking out the Green Globe Award for Youth Sustainability Champion, She is an environmentalist ,singer, entrepreneur, designer, presenter, reporter, MC, actress, peacemaker and humanitarian and cares deeply about the planet and all species. Holley’s mission is to spread kindness and compassion, educate and inspire people to stand up for what they believe in, unite together and co create a sustainable and peaceful Mother Earth.
At Rare Birds, we were introduced to Holley by the wonderful Therese Kerr and instantly fell in love with her positive attitude, tenacity and warm hearted nature. Holley has recently been confirmed as a speaker, guest and partner of the United Nations to speak at their event ‘International Day of the Girl Child’. Holley will also be the Rare Birds MIllennial Guest Panellist at our International Women’s Day event, HER GENERATION on March 9.
I had a chat with Holley on her thoughts around entrepreneurship and what inspires her to continue pursuing such high reaching goals for the betterment of our country.
What does the word entrepreneur mean to you?
A person who jumps out of a plane and builds a parachute on the way down! lol
Seriously ..for me it means taking your passion and turning it into a business or a project. It’s about taking risks and getting out there and doing your thing. Using your imagination and creativity to start businesses or projects. To me it means turning my passions into helping others and creating peace and sustainability.
What do you think is happening with entrepreneurs in Australia?
I think there are great opportunities for entrepreneurs due to social media platforms, and the use of technology. There is a lot of support for people to have a go, and a much wider reach and funding opportunities like crowd funding which has the double opportunity of getting funding for your project and a global audience.
What opportunities do you see for yourself as a young entrepreneur?
Well I have a big imagination and no shortage of ideas – so I see a lot of things! Firstly I see an opportunity to inspire others to live more consciously – I mean to care about themselves, each other and the planet and all species. I hope to provide fun and interesting things to get this happening, and create a more peaceful, kind and sustainable world. So, I see an opportunity to turn what I do into my own brand and turn my ideas and designs into products, and tools of engagement, and to inspire others to do this too.
Some of the things I’m planning are : later this year I will be launching a huge Global campaign – my Global Care A Lot Day schools movement! This is going to be a fun way to connect kids all over the world and inspire them to ‘care’ about the things I have mentioned. It will essentially be a website where schools join and get resources and ideas to do that, and then connect around the world. I would like people to not feel alone, and to be a part of a big global caring family. I am also going to be launching my fashion line – with the lovely Therese Kerr. I also see many opportunities to develop and grow my brand – which is me lol, and continue to help the world!
What excites you day to day?
Well all of nature is amazing. Learning new things excites me , I love learning! I also love catching up with my Mum after school as she usually has some other exciting opportunity for me to take part in, public speaking or a new campaign to support, or new people we connect with on my mission to unite the world, I’ve just been asked by the United Nations to speak and be a partner with them – thats pretty exciting!! I’ve also just joined a talent provider that gets entertainment to the corporate sector and I’ve been asked to speak and sing at these events!
Music excites me too! I write songs and love to sing. I’ve sang at some awesome events and festivals, last year I toured the Jazz circuit in Australia. My biggest excitement at the moment is my big new Care Day as I mentioned, it is growing really big and I will be launching it this year.
Who inspires you and why?
Oh that list is so long! Lets see…people that are also trying to do great things in the world. I have a real rebel streak and I love people who stand up and speak out against violence, or inhumane things. So people like Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Therese Kerr because she is advocating for all these things. Also my dear friend Bharat Mitra and his wife Bhavani Lev, they are so amazing – they are the Founders of Uplift festival and Organic India; their mission is similar to mine, and they help so many people and things in this world. Also the Dali Lama for all the good he has done and inspiration he gives. I love Ellen Degeneres as she is awesome at shining a light on a lot of great causes, and is very into animals and brings so much joy to everyone!
Other great Entrepreneurs like Richard Branson ( I would love to meet him !) and women who have succeeded , like Oprah Winfrey who is amazing and I like that she helps so many people. Anita Roddick founder of the Body Shop, i like that she helps the communities where the materials come from to make the products.
Satish Kumor who is my friend and a huge inspiration – he walked on a peace mission from India as an 8 year old to other countries in the name of no Nuclear War, and went on to found the magazine Resurgence which he is still the editor of at age 84! I love people like Erin Brokovich who stood up to the big corporations who were greedy and uncaring of the people, all the presenters that come to Uplift, like Scarlett Lewis who’s son was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting, and she went on to start a Choose Love foundation, great singers inspire me – I love Joss Stone, she is very caring, John Lennon – no explanation needed! lol oh and a lot of people on TEDx talks there are some people who have overcome intense difficulty and gone on to do great things – and one more but not least – My Mum – she is awesome , she also has gone through great difficulty and just is always so kind and helps me and my little sister so much.
What makes you an entrepreneur?
I am an entrepreneur because I started my own charity foundation at age 8, and I am now about to launch my own design range of products, clothes, reusable bags, reusable water bottles and other things. Under the umbrella of my Charity I have learnt how to monetise some things so I can create income streams, to keep my Charity sustainable and able to help people, the planet and animals.
Your greatest successes so far?
I won the Government Green Globe Award for Youth Sustainability Champion and went to Parliament House to receive the award, which was awesome!
Then I was the voice of youth at the big people vs Corporation Bentley Blockade – it was about a Gas Mining Company trying to take over a beautiful food producing area and turn it into an industrial gas field near where I live. I camped there for 2 months and used my voice and singing to help make a stand. We did not want our water poisoned and land and animals in an utter state of destruction. I interviewed Politicians, wrote a song that was turned into a music video, got up at 5 am most mornings to attend camp protocol meetings etc, and eventually we won! it was determined by the Minister for Resources to suspend the companies licence!
Also, I was very honoured to be in a documentary by HBO New York on kids and environmentalism which will be released this year. I also went on The Voice TV Show, and I had a very successful touring schedule for the Jazz circuit around Australia.
What are the general tools that help you be better at what yo do? (ie. smart phone, any type of innovation – can you recommend any?)
Yes, definitely smart phone, computer & internet – as I need to do a fair bit of research for my public speaking, gigs and interviews etc. I also use social media a lot to engage people and things like Skype to speak to people all around the world on my missions.
I also have a kool busking set up, which is one of the ways I raise money to donate – so I have a Amp on wheels that has a large battery so I can sing and speak pretty much anywhere. I use iPads too and read a lot of magazines like resurgence to research and get inspiration.
I hope to make use of the interactive whiteboards in our classrooms to connect with schools all over the world when I launch Global Care Day. I want to design apps and games to engage youth within Global Care Day too.
What would you like to change?
Oh that’s also a big question … As I always say we need a revolution! A green revolution – Green is the new black Yo! I mean if we don’t wake up and realise that there is no planet B then we the youth are going to inherit a sick and dying planet! The current way of the world is to turn living things into dead products! So…. I want to change the following things: -Anything that harms animals – factory farming, live exports, animal testing and the way the world sees them as a commodity!
Our environment – I would like to change the world over to using more sustainable materials like hemp, bamboo, solar and other sustainable things instead of paper from trees, deforestation is a huge problem and people forget they are the lungs of the earth.
Our human family – I would like to change the way most of the world sees these things as ‘normal’ or ok! I would like to change the way youth look at Politics as they are the future leaders. I basically just want to have a clean green healthy planet and Peace for all beings! No War !! Love in Action !!
How do you learn?
I learn by talking to people and asking questions, I get to meet and speak with some amazing people from all over the world. I do a fair bit of research using the internet. I also learn at school obviously lol, and I learn a lot from my Mum. We work together writing songs and other things within my charity, she does all the work in the background etc.
Know any amazing young millennial entrepreneurs? Leave us a comment below and we will follow up with you. Also, if you’d like to hear Holley and three other amazing women entrepreneurs speak, you can purchase tickets to HER GENERATION here.