How can I talk about issues I care about? And do I need 'credentials' to talk about them? I chatted to Jahin Tanvir who’s had a ton of experience as an advocate, having held advocacy roles at organizations like the United Nations and spoken on The Drum and ABC News. I’d initially reached because I wanted to get into the whole advocacy thing, but didn't know how to get started. So for those curious about speaking up on issues they care about, hopefully this chat demystifies how Jahin got into the space, and how you can too.

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Evan Lim: You have a ton of experience in advocacy and volunteering at organizations, but what was that first step you took?

Jahin Tanvir: My journey with advocacy was more around necessity than by choice. I graduated high school in New South Wales and moved to Canberra for university. The demographics of both states and territories are very different, so when I moved to Canberra I was very lonely. I had no networks, I didn't know what to do. I was just like ‘how I push my career forward?’ I thought the easiest way to do this would be volunteering.

I started sending a bunch of emails saying ‘Hey, I'm 18, I'm a first year student, can I volunteer some time and learn from you?’ The ones that got back to me were organizations like Headspace and Cancer Council. I had no expectations. I volunteered out of curiosity, out of trying to make new friends.

And things started taking off there. I was volunteering more and spoke on different panels. When you volunteer a lot, people reach out to you and say 'I see you've been volunteering for organization xyz. We've got a panel about how young people can get more involved in volunteering. Do you want to come and speak on the panel? So I did a bunch of those opportunities. I said yes to a lot of different things. That was the best decision I could make in hindsight because it opened up a different world to me. And now that’s transitioned into business and entrepreneurship, but the skills that I’ve learnt from advocacy is universal to what I do now.

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What did you actually write in that email?

I actually speak about this in all my keynotes. So in 2019 to 2020, I sent about 350 emails with the same template. It was, ‘Hey, I'm Jahin. I'm 18 years old. I'm a first year optometry student. I just moved interstate. Can I volunteer my time and learn from you?’ That was it. There was no agenda item. There was no ‘i want a job.’ It was just ‘can I volunteer my time and to learn from you?’

And I'd say 70% of those emails completely ghosted me, I've never heard from them back. It was quite depressing. But those that got back to me genuinely changed my life, where they were like, 'We have an opportunity for weekend volunteers here,’ or ‘We don't have any options right now, but I can connect you with this youth organization like the Multicultural Affairs Network.’ And I was like, sure, connect me up, and then I'd jump on a virtual chat and then do my pitch of 'I just want to do anything, any role that you have - let me do it.'

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For people who come to you who and ask how they can also get into advocacy, what are the sort of barriers they bring up?

Advocacy, particularly being a youth advocate, is a very tight knit space. So if you ever see youth advocates on TV or LinkedIn there's not many. There's the same people, same faces. And it is very intimidating. A lot of people are fearful because it's like ‘they've got all of this under their belt, who am I to join in?’ Fear is a massive barrier where they feel like there's no place for them.

But the advice I would have is that advocacy is similar to a business. Business is all about finding a solution to a problem. Now, similar to advocacy, there will always be issues in the world. As long as there are problems that exist, there is space, and to be an advocate you just have to be consistent with your message over time. That's it. That's what advocacy is all about.

Even though it may seem like you see the same faces on every panel, the reality is it's because they've built their networks or they've just been in the space for longer. Yes, it will take a bit of time to build up your name, but there is enough space and there will always continue to be enough space.

My advocacy is all around representation. Growing up as a first generation migrant, there was nobody that looked like me on TV. [I asked myself] why? Why isn't there somebody that looks like me? I don't know if you’re an Avengers fan, but at the end of Avengers II (Age of Ultron) Thanos is like, ‘fine, I'll do it myself’ and he puts on the Infinity Gantlet. That was the moment I sort of had where I was like, ‘Fine, nobody's doing it.’ Why can't I do it? And that's how I got into it.

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What exactly makes an advocate?

Say you're passionate about disability and are consistently talking about what needs to be changed in disability system on LinkedIn or social media. You've already become an advocate. The only way you become a very well-known advocate is if they invite you on a panel about disability advocacy and say, ‘hey, you're an expert in this field, can you speak?' But you're already an advocate. I think everybody inherently is an advocate.

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What are some actionable steps that someone who’s interested in advocacy can take?

I'd ask you: What are you passionate about when it comes to advocacy? Is it youth advocacy? Is it the business side of things or advocating for multiculturalism? You don't have to put yourself into any box, but find one thing that you're passionate about and then post about it.

For example, you might be passionate about social impact. What you can do right now is make a post about the federal budget and how it announced a bunch of new grants for social enterprises. That's it. You've become an advocate for social impact. Your next post tomorrow could be that the federal budget announced a massive push for social enterprises. 'As a young person who has been in this field for X amount of years, here are three things that I believe the federal government should do to elevate young businesses in young social enterprises.' People will see your post and be like, ‘This person's really passionate about young people and social impact. They're really advocating for change.’

Because what is advocacy fundamentally? It's speaking out about something you care about. And next week, if there's a panel discussion after the federal budget, someone might might say ‘oh, we need a young person talking about the federal budget.’ And someone from Seven News would be like, 'I saw X’s post on LinkedIn. Let me ask him for a few comments.’ Then somebody randomly starting an event about social impact is like ‘We need a young person. We need somebody who cares about us on a panel. I read some guy’s name on a Seven News article. Let me contact him.’ And then you sit on the panel. It all started with putting out content on things you can control, like your LinkedIn profile.

And people may not engage with you. I've had experiences where I've posted for about eight or nine months about something I care about. The same people engaged and then ten months later, somebody from Swinburne University comes up and says, ‘hey, I've been following your journey, I love your content, do you want to do a keynote for our graduates?’ ‘This person's never liked any of my comments, liked any of my posts, or commented anything at all. They've just been invisible. But apparently they like my advocacy and what I've done.

That's the beauty of social media. That's the beauty of advocacy. Most people are invisible. But the more you put yourself out there, the more people see your name and they associate that with things you care about, and they can put that together when they have an event or opportunity.

When you post content about things you're passionate about, people see it. They may not engage with it, and it's quite demoralizing when you get five, six, seven likes and you're like 'Oh, what am I doing? Am I actually an advocate?' But people are watching.

Jahin also talks about leveraging Twitter for speaking ops 👀

Twitter is massive. If you want to speak to media be it ABC or The Drum, literally go on Twitter, write producer, ABC producer, Seven News producer, the people that actually bring people in the news, and follow them or connect with them on LinkedIn. If they connect with you back, now they've got you on your network. And the more you post about certain topics, they'll see it. They may not know who you are, but they'll see your name pop up. And there will be an episode on ABC or The Drum where they need a younger person and they're like, ‘hey, I saw this guy a couple of weeks ago, can he be on ABC News?’ And they'll call you and say, ‘hey, we've got an episode, are you free?’ That's how it starts.

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How do you deal with imposter syndrome? I think it’s easy for young people to think they don’t belong in certain spaces, or think ‘why me?’

To this very day I still go through that. Whenever people want me on their podcast I'm just like, ‘why me?’ The shift was understanding that the imposter syndrome, this feeling of not belonging, this feeling of why me, will always exist no matter where you get in life. I spoke to the CEO of Kogan and to the founder of Netflix (Marc Randolph). These people were worth billions of dollars. I would go to them and say, ‘I have one question for you: Does the imposter syndrome, this feeling of ‘why me’ ever go away?’ And every single one of them say it doesn't go away.

You just have to get comfortable with the idea that you feel like you don't belong here. It's a human thing. Anytime I get a cool opportunity or a keynote, I tell myself it's just my negative bias as a human being. 'I'm going to feel like an imposter. Let me lean into it.’ But I feel this for 5 minutes. 'Why me? Why can’t it be someone else?'

So what helps is telling myself that and journaling. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, that's what I do. It’s finding ways to take the imposter syndrome I feel in those moments and realize it's not as bad as I thought. I go for walks to reflect and be like, ‘Okay, I feel I don't belong here. Why do I feel this way? Is it like a childhood thing? Oh, okay, maybe it's because as a kid I was very quiet.’

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What do you think stops people from being an advocate? You mentioned earlier that there aren’t many young advocates out there. Why do you think that is?

It's frightening. Advocacy is giving your opinion about something in front of millions of people. And what can go wrong? Many things can, like getting cancelled, or people can send you death threats.

But if we can focus on what can go right, you can genuinely change millions of lives by talking and speaking out. A little kid seeing your face on TV might be like, ‘if he's doing speaking on TV and is relatively young, I can do it too.’ I don't think there's any feeling on earth that's more inspiring than feeling like someone else feels more empowered because you exist, not because of what you say or anything that you’ve done. So focus on what can go right instead of what can go wrong.

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Thumbnail image by Tyler Cherry