At the end of last year, I was lucky enough to get to talk at the 37th edition of Ignite Boulder. Ignite talks are really cool events where a group of speakers each get five minutes to talk on a subject accompanied by 20 slides that display for 15 seconds each before automatically advancing. Ignite started in Seattle and the Boulder version of it has been running for 10 years now.

One of the founders of Boulder Ignite is Andrew Hyde, a successful entrepreneur, seasoned traveller, writer and an all-around great guy. I was really inspired by how, through this event and others he’s helped start in Boulder, he and his friends have pulled in a community of amazing people around them that add to that magic of that special town in Colorado.

I think being able to meet more people in this community was a big motivation for me when I decided to take part in the event, as well as being able to share a unique perspective on Zimbabwe that many people there might not have thought about, and of course some sneaky marketing of our Zimbowties.

Besides Andrew and myself of course, Joel Davis aka The Vibrarian was also Zimbowtied for his Ignite talk on “Turning You On to the Music You Didn’t Know You Loved”. I highly recommend watching it if you’re a music lover.

Follow Joel on MixCloud to discover more music that you didn’t know you loved!

It gives me so much joy to see our bow ties on the necks of amazing people around the world while knowing just how far they’ve gone to get to them. If you don’t know much about Zimbabwe, where our bow ties are made, you may enjoy watching my Ignite Boulder talk on the lessons I learnt from growing up in our unique country.

You can find all the other talks from Ignite Boulder 37 here and if you ever get the chance to do you own Ignite talk I encourage you to give it a go!