Rekha Magon: Revolutionizing Where, When, and How Children Learn

Ladderworks is a publishing platform of diverse picture books and online curriculum with the mission to empower over a million kids to become social entrepreneurs. Our current series features interviews by our interplanetary journalist Spiffy with inspiring Social Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Builders, who are advancing the UN SDGs.

Hey there! Spiffy here, your interplanetary journalist reporting from Planet Earth with an eye on entrepreneurs working to make this world more equitable. Today I’m super excited to speak with Rekha Magon from Montreal. Rekha is Boundless Life’s co-founder and Head of Education, and they are working towards SDG #13: Climate Action. Let’s hear all about it!

Spiffy: Hi Rekha, great to have you here with us! Tell me, what challenge is Boundless Life addressing?

Rekha: Thanks for inviting me, Spiffy! Well, young families don't have the freedom to explore the world because their children are tied down to a rigid school calendar. Boundless Life empowers young families to live, work, and learn while experiencing the world. At the core of this movement is Boundless Education. Using a personalized approach, children address real-world challenges using the UNSDG framework and are empowered to explore their natural creativity, discover their true passions, and shape their own future. We empower a community of active and impactful learners who can make a change in the world.

Spiffy: That sounds awesome! What motivated you to do it?

Rekha: My children have always been my biggest inspiration. As a family, we witnessed first hand how much growth occurs when children are exposed to new environments and given the opportunity and space to problem solve present-day issues. By applying academics to real-world issues with projects based on the UNSDGs, learning becomes more purposeful and relevant. This type of hands-on learning coupled with experiencing new cultures has a deeply meaningful impact on each child in our ecosystem. With multiple destinations around the world and a flexible calendar, children can plug in and out of different destinations every three months without disrupting their learning. It brings me great joy to allow children to learn by experiencing the world!

Spiffy: How would you say Boundless Life is working towards a more equitable world?

Rekha: Ultimately, with Boundless Education, we are developing compassionate, inclusive, and environmentally conscious human beings who can take action themselves to find solutions to real-life world problems.

Boundless Education creates hands-on learning opportunities with the goal to

- Inspire children to question, create, and innovate according to their individual interests

- Reflect on the world’s current challenges and realities while understanding the importance of culture and community

- Provide fulfillment through meaningful experiences and give back to those in need

- Build deep connections to themselves, nature, our community, and the world.

Spiffy: Tell me about a recent organizational milestone or initiative. What’s the impact on your community?

Rekha: Through Boundless Education and the application of the UNSDGs, we believe we are raising the next generation of Global Leaders. Moreover, in setting up Boundless communities in different parts of the world, we have revitalized rural communities, repurposed empty homes, reduced construction waste, and replaced driving with walking and cycling. Slow travel also reduces short trips and mass tourism because families staying with us has the economic impact equivalent to 25 tourists. This also provides real cultural immersion and lifelong connections.

Spiffy: Please share an experience when you faced failure and didn't give up. What did you learn from it?

Rekha: When designing the web app in my first start up (The Mindful Scholar), our beta version of the app was a complete failure! We spent a lot of money and didn't get what we wanted. This ultimately resulted in us spending more time and money and not hitting our launch date on time. The biggest problem was assuming that we would get clean data from our users. One of my biggest takeaways from that experience was to never make assumptions about the data. I haven’t made that mistake again! I also learned that I should never let an uncomfortable conversation prevent me from communicating the status of a project transparently to my clients. Being real and transparent is key.

Spiffy: Is there anything else you would love to tell our audience?

Rekha: Our goal with Boundless is to revolutionize where, when, and how children learn. In our first cohort, there was a family from Poland who didn't speak a word of English. By the end of the two months, their boys were not only speaking English, but also presented a heartwarming poem fully in English on Climate Action and the effects it's having on our planet. At the learning celebration they also presented a science-based board game on Pure-Energy to educate people on the issue and established partnerships with local businesses to make a change. In just eight weeks, they quickly demonstrated that they will step into the world with purpose and passion!

Spiffy: Such an inspirational note to end on! Thanks for speaking with me today, Rekha—it’s been an honor!

As an avid world traveler, ed-tech entrepreneur, and homeschool mama, Rekha Magon is passionate about creating meaningful learning experiences that inspire children to question, create, and innovate according to their own personal interests. Among other awards, she won first place in Canada's 9th Edtech Innovation Summit. With an accounting scholarship from McGill, she worked as a Senior Auditor at KPMG for many years before starting her own education technology company. (Nominated by Charlotte Michailidis at Parenthood Ventures. First published on the Ladderworks website on January 6, 2023.)