My Last Day at Chick-Fil-A

From Frying Chicken Patties to Meeting Village Chiefs

In 2015, I returned from an LDS Mission in Kobe, Japan and struggled to find meaning in my day-to-day classes and job at Chik-Fil-A. While nuggets and honey mustard were delicious, I wanted to do something that brought about social good. On a particularly busy week, I remember feeling like I really couldn’t make myself fry another chicken patty. My job felt unfulfilling, and I wanted to do more. I promised myself that if I quit - I would find something meaningful to do. A day later, I walked into Chik-Fil-A, handed in my apron and black hat, and left.

Five hours later, I sat in a class presentation about the BYU Ballard Center. Listening in awe, I heard stories of student-run businesses promoting social change in all corners of the globe. I learned of true changemakers that were implementing their education and desires to serve and creating real change in the lives of others. I remember feeling like I had found what I was looking for—a real way to make a difference. When I first walked into the Ballard Center, it truly felt empowering. There was a map decorating the back wall of the Ballard Center reception desk and a large sign proclaiming “Do Good. Better.” I sat down with an advisor and he started drawing with a white board marker all over the table, telling me how he had spent several months in Uganda developing a company that distributed solar lanterns to poor villagers. I learned about the Y-Prize Solar program and that I, too, could start a social venture to bring solar lighting to rural Sub-Saharan Africa.

What started with a few friends on the couch of a college apartment has grown to a social venture called Yenso Solar, bringing solar light to over 2,000 Ghanaians in 25 villages and offering job and skill training to women in rural areas. In one village in the Central Region of Ghana, I met a woman named Hannah who lived alone. Though she had little education, she was a brilliant innovator. She showed us how she had taught herself basic math and was so excited to use her skill as a member of the Yenso team. We hired Hannah as a sales representative, and she spent each day walking to surrounding villages distributing solar light. I saw how solar changed Hannah’s life as she not only developed her own sales network, but no longer had to use dangerous kerosene lamps in her home; which emit fumes the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Hannah began earning her own income and pulling herself out of poverty as she was empowered by the light of solar.

Hannah helped me to find my passion in creativity and social innovation. Through Yenso Solar and the Y-Prize program, I found that there was more to life than chicken nuggets and honey mustard. I really could bring light into the lives of others and make a meaningful difference in the world.