Elia Saikaly
Award Winning Filmmaker & Global Adventurer
Elia Saikaly is a Canadian social entrepreneur whose award-winning films, global adventures and dynamic public engagement initiatives inspire others to FIND their most meaningful LIFE and spark positive change. Whether Saikaly’s traveling with a nomadic tribe in the Sahara, climbing the world’s highest peaks, or communing with polar bears in the Far North—he has proven to have the determination, stamina, skill, resourcefulness, and vision required to meet the greatest of challenges. His presentations are rich with extraordinary humanity, inspiring messages, practical wisdom and jaw-dropping personal accounts.
Elia Saikaly is a Canadian social entrepreneur whose award-winning films, global adventures and dynamic public engagement initiatives inspire others to FIND their most meaningful LIFE and spark positive change.
On May 22, 2010, Saikaly not only stood on top of the World, but shared the journey with 20,000 Canadian youth in their classrooms using HDVideo, Skype and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The campaign taught students that they had the power to change the world, and it resulted in funds being raised for an international charity for orphaned children.
Whether Saikaly’s traveling with a nomadic tribe in the Sahara, climbing the world’s highest peaks, (4 Everest Expeditions) or communing with polar bears in the Far North—he has proven to have the determination, stamina, skill, resourcefulness, and vision required to meet the greatest of challenges.
Once an actor, model, MuchMusic reporter, Saikaly is no stranger to being in front of the camera. He is the new Adventurer on an Innovative new non-profit web channel called WIGUP (While I grow Up), the Media Mentor for Kids. He is also the dynamic host of a new television adventure series featuring Canada’s 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites called La part du monde. The 15-part series is scheduled to air on TFO in January 2011.
Saikaly spends a lot of his time working with charitable organizations like the Ottawa Friends of Tibet and Childhaven International. He recently led an initiative with his own organization, FindingLife, to build a well in Nepal for children in need with the help of students across Eastern Ontario. He was also a part of a campaign that built a school for orphaned children in Kathmandu.
As an inspirational speaker, Saikaly brings his intense passion for filmmaking and adventure to the stage bringing the audience to the most beautiful and treacherous places in the world. Targeted for youth, public, and corporate audiences, each presentation is rich with extraordinary humanity, inspiring messages, practical wisdom and jaw-dropping personal accounts.
Elia's Blog Posts:
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2. FindingLife: Empowering Students Through Adventure
Elia takes us on an incredible journey and shares his vision of FindingLife - a non-profit organization that combines adventure, education, technology and charitable initiatives to inspire youth to create positive change. From summiting the World's tallest peaks, to building classrooms in Kenya for disadvantaged communities, FindingLife transports students on interactive journeys all across the world. Audiences are empowered and encouraged to take action offline to make a tangible difference in the world. Saikaly's interactive adventure-based expeditions help students discover who they are.
FindingLife utilizes modern social media technology to captivate youth. Elia takes audiences to the summit of Everest, sharing how he interactively shot, edited, blogged and GEO mapped his team's adventure while literally hanging off the side of the mountain 26,000 ft. above sea level. His relentless pursuit of reaching the summit of Everest alone is enough to leave us inspired; but the real driving force is the story of how 20,000 students followed along daily and raised funds to support an international charity.
Throughout his presentation, he illustrates how high school students summited Africa's 2nd highest peak while building classrooms in a remote region in Kenya. He takes us through an interactive Soccer tournament that brought technology to hundreds of children in a community who had never even seen computers!
The magic of FindingLife is that it is all broadcast in real-time, enabling school children to interact, learn and contribute to their neighbouring global communities. While some can travel physically, others can now travel virtually and connect with people all across the world.
Using an eye-catching, multi-media presentation, Elia leverages his film-making skills and manages to transport us into his world. He shares his innovative use of technology in remote and often inhospitable environments on Earth to move, enable and inspire young people. His courage, vision, creativity and determination has inspired tangible change in our youth and in communities across the world. Audiences are inspired and are filled with endless creative ideas of how to use technology to engage on-line communities. "Through vision and commitment, using today's technology, we create lasting effective campaigns that inspire global change." -
1. Discovering Our Life Purpose
Elia Saikaly tells an incredible story of challenge, courage, compassion, and taking huge risks in life in order to achieve one's higher purpose. His underlying messages encourage awareness of the challenges and adversities we face, and help inspire an understanding of how they lead us to become who we were born to be.
Elia's story takes his audience on an emotional, unforgettable and inspiring journey. From growing up as 'punk-rock' rebel, out of school and living on the streets, to breaking a world record at the young age of 17 through goal setting techniques and visualization. Elia tells the extraordinary tale about how he went from the lowest point in his life, to soaring high above the clouds at the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest, to honour the death of his mentor, who died during an Everest climb. Elia, at that time, had never even slept in a tent!
Elia's delivers a jaw-dropping multi-media presentation that transports us into the world above 8000 metres, commonly referred to as the "Death Zone". Using props, HD video and compelling soundtracks, Saikaly literally brings Everest to life. He introduces audiences to the most remote environments filled with incredible life stories, and shares lessons of success and failure during his adventure to the top. His presentation often leaves audiences in tears and moved to action. While most struggle to place one foot in front of the other, Saikaly climbs, shoots, broadcasts and communicates to thousands during his expeditions.Fitness, wellness, goal setting, teamwork, courage, calculated risks, resilience, believing in oneself, and the incredible rewards that come along with giving back to society are all explored through this rich presentation.
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I have had the privilege of hearing Elia speak on a number of occasions. He is a captivating speaker, passionate about his life and his extraordinary experiences. His stories are sincere and have a real impact.
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I've heard Elia speak of Finding Life on many occasions - each time he's left me in wonderment of his adventure, in awe of his accomplishment, and feeling like I'm seeing one of the new leaders of the real world unfolding before me. Elia takes you with him to the top of the mountain; his passion.. his sincerity, and his incredible gift of story telling helps you feel the exhilaration and anxiety of challenging Everest, the depth of his admiration for Sean Egan, and the world he makes better by his feat.
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Carleton University
Bio
Elia Saikaly est un entrepreneur social canadien dont les films honorifiques, les aventures planétaires et les initiatives d’engagement publique dynamique en inspire d’autres à DÉCOUVRIR leur VIE la plus positive et suscite un changement positif.
Le 22 mai 2010, en plus de se tenir sur le toît du Monde, il a partagé son parcours avec 20 000 jeunes canadiens en pleine salle de classe par l’intermédiaire du Vidéo HD, de sites internet Skype et des médias de société tels que Facebook et Twitter. Cette sensibilisation a appris aux étudiants qu’ils possèdent le pouvoir de changer le monde et a donné lieu à des fonds ramassés au nom d’une charité internationale venant en aide à des orphelins.
Qu’il voyage avec une tribu nomade du Sahara, ou qu’il escalade les monts les plus élevés de la planète (4 expéditions dans le Mont Everest), ou bien encore qu’il vive en communauté avec les ours polaires des fins fonds nordiques – Elia s’est démontré comme un homme possédant de la détermination, de l’endurance, des habiletés, de la débrouillardise et une vision qui lui permet de rencontrer face à face et surmonter les plus grands défis présentés à l’Homme.
Lorsqu’il n’est pas derrière la caméra, comme motivateur, Elia révèle sa passion intense de cinématographe et d’aventurier sur la scène emmenant avec lui les spectateurs dans les plus beaux et les plus dangereux endroits de la planète. Ciblé pour les jeunes, le public en général et des employés de sociétés diverses, chaque présentation démontre une richesse d’humanité extraordinaire, de messages inspirants, de sagesse pratique et de récits personnels mystifiants.
Ses expériences comme acteur, modèle et journaliste dans les arts musicaux lui ont fourni une expertise qui le met bien à l’aise devant la caméra. Il est le Nouvel Aventurier d’un canal Web innovateur à but non lucratif, WIGUP, le mentor médiatique destiné aux enfants.
Elia est aussi l’hôte dynamique d’une nouvelle série télévisée d’aventures qui met en primeur les 15 sites canadiens du Patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO « La part du monde ». La série diffusée en 15 épisodes devrait entrer en ondes au canal TFO dès janvier 2011.
Elia passe le plus clair de son temps à travailler avec des organismes de charité tels que les Amis du Tibet, section Ottawa, « Ottawa Friends of Tibet » et la Fondation d’accueil international pour enfants « Childhaven International ». Il a récemment mené une initiative, par l’entremise de son organisme, Finding Life, de construction d’un puits au Népal pour les enfants en besoin avec l’aide des étudiants de partout dans l’Est ontarien; il a aussi collaboré à la campagne de financement à la construction d’une école pour orphelins à Katmandou.
Il vit présentement à Ottawa au Canada.
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