Featured image:  Two men in Nepal make use of Alice Chun’s solar lights | Photo provided by Alice Chun

Bringing light to families and children in Ukraine and Türkiye

By Carolyn Ray, Editor, JourneyWoman

What do entrepreneurs and travellers have in common? Quite a bit, it turns out. From finding our passion to embracing the unknown, women are stepping in to make the world a safer, more equitable place.

Korean-born entrepreneur Alice Min Soo Chun is the inventor of the SolarPuff, the world’s only self-inflatable, portable solar light. Her origami-style solar lights transform from a flat polygon into beautiful cube and pyramid shapes with a simple pull-open action.  According to Chun, a small solar light, just used one hour a day every day, can save 90 pounds of carbon emissions every year.

An architecture professor at Colombia University, she dedicated herself to finding alternatives to fossil fuels, like solar energy.

“I researched every solar light out there on the market,” she says. “They were all very heavy, bulky, hard plastic, non-recyclable, made out of toxic materials. Because hard polycarbonate, hard plastic, is actually non-recyclable and it’s very toxic to the environment when they’re making the product and will last thousands of years in the landfill.”

Drawing on her life and professional experiences, Chun created a solar light with strong, durable sail cloth, made with a triaxial weave.

“That triaxial weave is what makes it strong enough that it holds its shape when it’s expanded into a cube and soft enough so that it’s foldable,” she says. “I was hoping to make an impact with this light and our other products.”

2. We are role models for others

As women over 50, we are aware and accountable for the impact of our decisions on others. We know the world is watching and learning from us, and that we are often role models for others, including the next generation.

Chun was named to Fortune’s 50 Over 50 list in 2022, and often meets with young women who are pursuing careers in science, engineering and entrepreneurship.

“I tell the girls and young women that I meet if I can do it, you can do it,” she says. “I’m a poor Korean girl that immigrated to the United States when I was a teenager and I had the privilege of having an education.”

She encourages young girls and young women to ask themselves ‘what gives you energy? What gives you passion? And is it something greater than yourself? Is it helping others? Is it for making lives better?’

“Once it’s outside of yourself, there’s this other level of responsibility and love or commitment,” she says. “And once it’s something that’s greater than yourself, the passion and the impact becomes so much more meaningful. And if you go on that path, it’s so important that you love what you do because if you don’t love what you do most people will give up.”

In a male-dominated industry, Chun has had her share of challenges prototyping and manufacturing her solar lights.

“I have yet to meet a female woman that owns a factory in China,” she says. “I’ve always dealt with men. You have to convince them that it’s possible and you can’t convince someone else if you’re not convinced yourself.”

Chun says that only eight per cent of women have a patent where they’re the sole, female owner of a patent and that 0.02% are female entrepreneurs have a company that has had an IPO in the history of IPOs.

“I think we’ve come a long way, but we are far behind what men are able to achieve in terms of investments for companies,” she says.

She believes things are changing. “The more and more I talk to people that share common goals and stories, the easier it is to set up a ripple effect within the community of young women and girls so that they feel empowered to step up and fight for their abilities and their talents and their worth. It’s sad we have to fight for it, but we do.”

“Whether it’s a hurricane or a war zone, the children are very traumatized,” she says. “For the rest of their lives, these kids are incredibly traumatized. Imagine losing your home from a hurricane or losing parents because of a disaster or losing your whole family because they were shot and killed in front of you. These are the kids that I meet. Some of them were amazing to actually meet because I found so much joy, gratitude, perseverance and forgiveness.”

4. We embrace the unknown

Every day we are invited to do something new. It might be something that scares us or makes us uncomfortable. We have a choice. We can say no and stay in our comfort zone or we can discover something new about ourselves and the world.

“In Ukraine, people were really struggling and they’re trying to thrive,” Chun says. “They had blackouts. You know, getting off the train it was so dark. I was just really struck by how dark it was in the streets because all you had were the cars. The streetlights were really very, very minimal. And the buildings were all dark.”

She plans to go back to some of the villages and deliver more lights.

“I think more continuous power is going into the major cities but the villages on the front line are completely decimated,” she says. “There are still many families that need help. In Türkiye, what I understand is happening through my research is, and also from my experience with the earthquake in Haiti, is that people don’t want to live in their homes even if they’re still there around the epicentre because if your home has a crack in it and there’s another tremor that house could go.”

Children and women are the most vulnerable after a disaster, Chun says. By bringing light into tent camps, she hopes to reduce sexual assaults and human trafficking. According to the United Nations, human trafficking is a massive problem, with estimates ranging as high as 50 million people worldwide. Wars and conflicts, such as the crisis in Ukraine, increase the possibility of trafficking in and outside of conflict areas. To make her case, Chun found a research paper where proper lighting decreased sexual assaults by 20% to 30% in Haiti.

“Imagine being a child,” she says. “You’ve lost your parents. You don’t know where to go. That’s when human trafficking comes to light. In the tent camps, the women get assaulted because they’re in a tent, and then there are public bathrooms and when they go to the bathroom at night they get assaulted. If there’s no light you can’t point your finger at an attacker because you can’t see your attacker at night. That’s also the reason why I want to go immediately.”

“When I go to these red zones, I’m always very excited to go,” Chun says. “I go because I want to prove that there is another perspective to the situation. There’s always another story. And usually, I come back with the most amazing stories of perseverance and light. It’s one step closer to my destiny. Make the decision and follow through with it. Don’t be afraid and just keep going.”

“I’m not afraid to die — I’m just not,” she says. “My son is the only one that I kind of worry about. When I went to Haiti I did check my life insurance before I left and I told Qwinn, you know, I love you so much. You’re my life. And I love you so much. But I have to go to help these children because it also affects you and your life as well. We’re all interconnected in this world. And the things we do to humankind, we do to ourselves.”

When I ask Chun about her dreams for the future, she smiles brightly.

“If I were to dream big, every child would have a solar light, would have a solar puff, and know the power of the sun and the light inside themselves, being able to understand that help is not out there,” she says. “Help is in your hands. Small things matter. If we all work together we can make a huge impact.”

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