Meet Carter Beck

We recently connected with Carter Beck and have shared our conversation below.

Carter, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?

On the morning of February 24, 2022, I remember sitting upright on the edge of my bed watching the television as scenes of the Russian military invading Ukraine we being shown on all news network shows. Being so far away from the conflict, I of course, felt sympathy and a sense of helplessness for the Ukrainian people. However, two days later, a demonstration was held in the Lviv town square where an empty stroller was set up for each of the children that had been killed by the Russian attacks in just those few days. At that moment, my young son was running around the house, playing, as every child should, completely unaware of the horrors that were being inflicted on innocent people halfway around the world. At the same time, I saw hundreds of empty strollers sitting motionless on television; a vivid image that I will remember forever. Being a father, I feel a strong responsibility to help protect my family, especially my children. That day, I called my best friend of nearly twenty years, Albert Lim, and we immediately hashed out a plan to go to Ukraine and help these children. Almost three years later, that phone conversation has resulted the provision of educational resources and support to over 3,000 refugee children across six countries. When it comes to our ability to take risk, it is vital to remember the “why”. In this case, we take on risk because our purpose and calling is to serve these children who’s lives have been forever altered by something they had nothing to do with. Whatever it takes, we must protect the most innocent people in our world, our children. They are the driving force that pushes us to endure risk.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’m honored to be asked these fantastic questions. As I mentioned earlier, I am so proud to be a father and husband. My family, their happiness and safety are of the utmost importance to me on a personal level. However, since starting, Global Education Connection, I’ve realized that we as adults, have a responsibility to care for not just our children, but additionally, to help others when we can. Since starting Global Education Connection with my best friend, Albert Lim, I’ve made it my mission in this life to help refugee children. There is a drastic education and development gap that is created when a child becomes a refugee. Governments for the most part, in times of crisis, can assist with the basic humanitarian needs of food, medicine, and shelter. However, an alarming trend I’ve observed is the lack of importance assigned to the developmental needs of refugee children. At GEC, our mission is to close that gap. Through the provision of educational materials, art supplies, support services, and other developmental tools, we have made it our mission to serve these children. In less than three years, we have been able to serve and help support the educational and developmental needs of over 3,000 refugee children in some of the most dangerous and devastated places in the world. I take great pride in our team being able to do what is often described as too hard, too dangerous, too expensive. At the end of the day, those are the children that need help the most. For 2025, we have a lofty goal, to serve 10,000 refugee children. This is a pretty daunting number, however, these innocent refugee children are the driving force that will help us make this a reality. We know our “why”. As you can tell, I am very passionate about helping these children. In less than three years, GEC has snowballed into something we never could have imagined. I am so excited and hopeful for the next three years because I see now that something as simple as a phone call to a lifelong friend, has resulted in one of the most beautiful opportunities in life, to help children.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

There is a really great book by the author, Simon Sinek, “Start With Why”, that has helped me significantly in my decision making processes in both personal and professional life. It is vital for any organization or individual to know their “why”. Why are we applying for this particular job? Why are we feeling stuck? Why are we trying to start this business? Having the end-goal in mind, allows for us to overcome the inevitable obstacles and challenges that life has a constant way of appearing along the journey. Knowing your “why” needs to be the starting block whenever you want to set out on a new journey. A second quality is self-discipline. I deeply respect the Japanese philosophy of “Kaizen”. This particular philosophy evolves around the idea of working towards being just 1% better each day. Often when we want to start a new business or have a great idea, it is easy to get swept up in trying to make big and drastic improvements. However, if we remain disciplined, and focus on making small, incremental, improvements, the results are amazing. A few years ago I took this approach to reading, which was a long-time fear, and difficulty. I started with the focus of reading just 10 pages of a book each day and before I knew it, I was shocked to see my bookcase starting to fill up. This quality of self-discipline is of vital importance because it allows us to anticipate that there will be problems but to then focus on maintaining the course and making continuous small steps. The last quality I would say has been the most impactful would be courage. This is by far, the most challenging quality because there is a natural fight or flight response in each of us. Have the courage to make the phone call. Have the courage to pitch the business idea. Have the courage to speak up about an idea to your manager. Have the courage to say, “I love you”. All of these qualities are dependent on each other. It it vital to know your vision, your “Why”. Once established, begin my making small meaningful steps towards that vision. Be courageous in your actions. Walk towards what you fear because what I have learned from my experience with GEC, is that fear will not prevail. It takes courage from all of us to make this world a better place. We can do it.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

At GEC, our mission is to provide educational support to refugee children around the world. Our goal is to serve 10,000 children in 2025. To make that a reality, it is going to take a tremendous amount of work but I am optimistic. As a nonprofit, a significant challenge is fundraising. Whether it comes in the form of grants, corporate sponsorships, monthly donors, or individual donations, all of these contribute to our goal of providing educational opportunities to refugee children. I am always eager and wanting to share about the needs of these children and would love the opportunity to engage with people who want to learn more. Please consider following us on social media, Global Education Connection, or visiting our website at www.globaleducationconnection.org to learn more about what we do with our current initiatives. To provide opportunities and education to refugee children has been such an amazing opportunity but I also see it as a responsibility. There are millions of refugee children that need our help and I have no doubt that we can be of service and help them. They are worth it. They are our future. This is for them. Thank you so much.

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Image Credits

Albert Lim, Mustafa Karali, Maen Al Jarrah, Nader Al Jarrah

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