During the school year of 2012-2013, I had the pleasure of meeting one of the protagonists of today’s post, Irati Oleaga. At that time, she was a student at the University of Deusto and participated in the Ekin-It program, which I coordinated and was one of the greatest gifts of life.
Today I bring you a post that not only speaks about Irati, but also about a solidarity initiative for Ukraine because, as I told you a few posts ago, I don’t support war, of course, but what I do support is more than one initiative to do whatever it takes to help thousands of people suffering the unspeakable. Today, this post also goes for them.
First, let me introduce you to Irati Oleaga.
She studied at prestigious universities such as the University of Deusto, the University of Vienna, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and the University of Tübingen. Irati graduated in Economic Law (2013) and in Master of Laws (LL.M), European and International Business Law (2014). Besides that, she speaks English, Basque and German perfectly, and while she was studying at the University of Deusto, she participated in the Debate Club and in the innovation and entrepreneurship program Ekin-It 2013. As you can imagine, she had to appear on the blog.
Irati knows that since I met her in 2012, even though she developed her professional career in the Public and Private Law area nationally and internationally (Belgium, Germany, and United Arab Emirates), we always kept in touch. However, it wasn’t Law what kept us together, but her entrepreneurial spirit. That’s what brings me to write about her and one of her initiatives, which a few weeks ago she asked me to “like”. That’s how she does it.
The thing is that, in 2012, Irati shared with me a picture which I think describes her perfectly, even 10 years later, when she shared with me a different one. It’s a picture that also represents her, but this time it’s not a smiling Irati, but one of her works. Apart from being an entrepreneur and a professional in her other area, Law, she is an artist. Thank God you listened to your friend when he told you that you had “to show people what I never show”, because it’s worthy. Thank you, Irati.
The point is that, about a week ago, Irati shared with me a solidarity initiative called Artistas por Ucrania (Artists for Ukraine), where she is participating together with 31 more artists. They donate their work to raise money for Ukrainian families with sick children who had to leave their homes in Ukraine. The money raised with the sales will go entirely to those families.
On Sunday, the 10th of April, they had already raised 18% of the final goal, so should we help them get to 100%? I’m aware that our solidarity may be spread out, but if you still don’t know how to help all those people who, apart from leaving their homes, need health care, this is a great opportunity. You can do it both by buying some of the works this initiative puts at our disposal (I encourage you to buy Irati’s) or by helping in any way that you can.
Reviewing “documents” I found Irati’s thoughts from 10 years ago, which today still have the same value:
“The world is changing… and we must adapt ourselves to the new requirements society imposes… Ekin-It has helped me acknowledge this change… get over fear… and realize that with the appropriate attitude I can achieve anything I want. The world needs ideas and enthusiastic people willing to carry those ideas out”.
You, Irati, have achieved it. Thank you for still being there. I’ll still be on the other side, for anything and everything I can do for you, for entrepreneurship and for solidarity initiatives such as Artistas por Ucrania.
Enjoy Easter.
Translated by María Ubierna Quintanilla and supervised by Arantza Arruti.