Should I combine my job with community service?

Meet your Mentor is the interview series for the New Work generation. This time, top model and actress Toni Garrn speaks about the value of community service.

Toni Garrn is currently one of the most internationally successful German top models, and she is also a successful actor. In addition to numerous fashion brands – including Dior, Dolce and Gabbana and Victoria’s Secret – Garrn’s clients include the world’s largest cosmetics manufacturer L’oréal Paris. In 2016, the Hamburg native founded the “Toni Garrn Foundation”, with which she works in cooperation with the children’s aid organization Plan International to improve educational opportunities for women in Uganda, Ghana, Burkino Faso and other African countries. Laura Lewandowski has Garrn in the latest meet-your-mentor episode interviewed. We regularly pick out questions from these interviews that interest our t3n community. Today it’s about how work and community service can be combined.

Laura Lewandowski: Dear Toni, with your foundation you are not only helping many girls and
Women on the African continent, you also motivate other successful people to get involved – keyword Ripple Effect. Why is it so important to you to give something back outside of your traditional business – the world of fashion and acting? And how do you manage to combine your jobs and community service?

Toni Garn: Success and the will to give something back should go hand in hand with one another. Regardless of whether you are an entrepreneur, model or Youtuber: At a certain point, successful people should ask themselves in my opinion: How much do I really need for myself and what am I willing to give away? And by that I don’t just mean money and material things. If you want to advance the world and not waste your existing resources, you have to be willing, above all, to invest time. Often even: a lot of time!

My commitment to women on the African continent came about because I have traveled a lot there, both professionally and privately, and have seen how great the disadvantages are still. In doing so, I realized: I will only achieve something with charitable work if I establish a connection to the people we help and have the opportunity to have an overview of all the facts, to understand everything and to constantly learn. All or not at all – because from the time you start helping people, you take on responsibility. Exactly this responsibility is not a burden for me today, but a huge drive in life.

“Success and the will to give something back should be linked as a matter of course.”

I love collecting donations, and I think I’m pretty good at it – thanks to the diverse contacts I made in my modeling career. But what I love even more is visiting projects in person and being there. This is the only way I can really ensure that the money we have collected and passed on is used correctly. In the case of my foundation, this means that I check whether a well has been built correctly, whether a classroom has actually been completed and, in general, whether the money goes to the women and girls for whom we stand up. Our most important goal is that the principle of helping people to help themselves works. I am only good at fundraising if I can be absolutely sure that my foundation will keep its promises.

Another thing that motivates me: On my travels through Africa, I learn a lot from the local people. From the teams of the small grassroots organizations we work with, from the school principals, the village mothers, the women and girls and their husbands and brothers. Again and again I realize: Even if we only help a little from the outside so that girls can go to school and get an education, they quickly develop the potential to change their families and their communities. Empowering girls through education shows that these women are the strongest, most committed, and most grateful people. Experiencing this and helping with it pushes me tremendously and gives me energy for my work as a model and actress.

I very much hope that the pandemic will soon be under control all over the world and that we can hold our summer camps again in the countries in which my foundation is active. Usually 40 to 60 girls and young women come together for several days. The message that we convey to the participants is simple – but very clear: “You have rights. You have the right to express your opinion, you have the right to go to school and to feel self-determined. ”These camps are the best time of the year for me. When I look into the eyes of the girls there, I feel the most clearly: It is always worth giving something back!

This meet-your-mentor episode was kindly supported by Evergreen – the first toll-free digital asset manager in Germany. Evergreen supports users in the implementation of their goals with a fair, transparent and flexible opportunity to invest. More info on evergreen.de.