Tina Seelig

So figuring out how to ask for something little.

In fact, just like in any sort of negotiation, the goal of one favor

is to maybe get to the next ask.

I tell the story about my friend and colleague Pia Sokar who started a company called Teach AIDS.

This was a company that started during the AIDS epidemic where they were creating educational materials to teach people about AIDS prevention and HIV prevention.

And she knew that in India, this was a huge issue because the teaching materials were actually tabooed.

Talking about anything having to do with sex was something that nobody would teach in their curriculum.

So she came up with some really clever and culturally appropriate materials for India.

So she wanted to have...

someone from India who was a famous actor or actress to be the voice over in these animations she's created.

How is she going to do that?

First of all, she asked everybody.

She just told everyone she was looking for.

And one of her neighbors, she was literally standing in the parking lot of her apartment building.

And she was telling her neighbor about this.

And her neighbor said, you know, my uncle is an eye doctor in India.

And one of his patients is a famous actor there.

Maybe he could make an introduction.

And most people would just dismiss it like that's crazy.

But she said, no, no, no, no, no.