Transforming Work with Sophie Wade 94: Rekha Magon — Expanding Experiences for Our Working and Family Lives
Rekha Magon is the co-founder and Head of Education at Boundless Life and an ed-tech entrepreneur. Rekha shares her journey from accounting to combining homeschooling and entrepreneurship before and during the pandemic, incorporating mindfulness as a key component. She describes the genesis of Boundless Life and explains their transformative approach to combine education, work, and community. Rekha shares the accelerating expansion of the lifestyle network as hundreds of families join Boundless to experience the multiple destinations—enabled for remote work, cultural immersion, and a forward-thinking education system for children.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
[02:43] With a love of math and interest in people, Rekha studies accounting and HR together.
[04:09] Rekha's parents took her on meditation and mindfulness retreats from a young age which become integral to her life.
[05:19] Pregnant with her first child, Rekha has five months of bedrest to reflect on what fulfills her.
[07:56] In Thailand when the tsunami hit, Rekha found life full of purpose helping Thai people.
[09:25] Mindfulness is important for kids as well as adults and Rekha wants all children to benefit.
[11:06] Rekha's son is not showing his usual curiosity and creativity in the traditional school system.
[12:08] With a fresh approach after much research, Rekha starts homeschooling her son.
[13:30] On bedrest, pregnant with her daughter, Rekha develops her company the Mindful Scholar.
[14:36] When the pandemic hits, Rekha joins a new learning venture using MIT's creative pedagogy.
[16:44] The student led orientation and empowered education environment was hard to leave.
[18:37] Boundless Life begins with locations in Portugal, then Greece, Italy, and now Bali.
[19:06] Rekha explains the genesis of Boundless Life and the solution it offers for families.
[20:28] The founder offers Rekha an empty canvas to develop and run the education program.
[21:09] Rekha finds her children always grow and evolve significantly whenever they travel.
[22:38] Boundless Life's creates an education system with the world at the forefront so children learn about other people as themselves.
[24:26] Boundless Life launches quickly during the pandemic—the time is ripe with parents working from home.
[25:23] For many people, it is a pivotal moment as they consider returning to a prescriptive life/lifestyle.
[28:04] Community becomes one of the biggest value propositions which was a surprise for the team.
[29:14] How does Boundless Life work? What do the different programs offer?
[31:16] Who are Boundless parents? How are they able to join the programs?
[32:44] New offerings for older kids and a travelling school!
[35:07] Rekha shares what happens to kids going back to "normal lives" after Boundless.
[36:54] Parents' reactions when they get back home after their Boundless experience.
[38:35] Embracing the lifestyle, 40% of families join the longer term cohort—6, 9, and 12 months.
[41:14] Visas currently limit long-term stays, but Boundless enables families to try out a new country.
[42:20] The demand for programs for older kids implies a desire for a long-term lifestyle offering.
[43:00] Despite growing through word of mouth, hundreds of families have already participated in Boundless programs.
[44:03] Mostly US and Canadian to start, now more European families—including Italian, Greek and Polish—are signing up.
[44:45] Rekha explains Boundless offers the Nordic Baccalaureate curriculum.
[46:45] Breaking the older fear-based apprehensions about education is part of the process.
RESOURCES
QUOTES (edited)
"At this point, mindfulness wasn't a thing. Calm didn't exist. Headspace wasn't doing anything specifically for kids. I just knew it was what I needed to teach my kids, but why should it only be my kids?."
"Why can't families be able to travel and educate their kids at the same time?"
"I saw how my kids grew and evolved to the next levels whenever we were traveling. So to me, that was the most appealing part of this, facilitating more parents to be able to give this lifestyle to their children."
"We need more kids to see each other and other people around the world as themselves and not as opposing enemies. The best way to do that is to take them to countries they've never been to and to get them to learn about the culture and feel like they're part of it."
"Boundless puts older kids in more of a leadership role, and the younger ones have these mentors in their area. So I think there's a lot of growth when it comes from these social skills and communication skills and having the autonomy and responsibility to tackle real-world problems."
"I think what we do experience is that some parents want something independent and alternative in terms of education, but they're still very much fear-based and still very indoctrinated that education needs to look like the way we were educated as kids."