Daily Times

Ace fashion designer, runway director, television host and actor Hassan Sheheryar Yasin, better known as HSY, presented a TEDx talk with the central theme, ‘Thriving with Innovation’ at Top City, Islamabad on Saturday in front of a live audience.

This would mark the designer’s third TEDx talk since his first one six years ago. The event was developed as an independently organized TEDx event, with the title, TEDxSaddarRoad. Other renowned personalities who spoke at the conference include Hareem Farooq, Shahid Abdullah, Raza Syed, Khola Mustafa and Maria Aslam.

HSY primarily discussed the importance of authenticity when it comes to innovation and shared a heart-warming story about how the challenges he faced last year, led him to continuously innovate and think of creative ideas. This meant rebuilding his business from the ground up, just to continue to survive and thrive. He had already been going through major hurdles from the beginning of 2020 when both his parents fell seriously ill, his business crashed because of the pandemic and he was left searching for answers. It was around that time he created ‘LIVE with HSY which was a talk show developed and recorded on social media. He then started thinking of how to turn his hobbies into a business. He stressed the importance of remaining true to who you are and using that gift to innovate in tough times.

“I’ve realised that when the chips are down and you need to innovate and thrive, look into yourself. The real innovation truly lies within you. Be authentic to yourself. Too fast, too soon we become unauthentic and I know it’s a small word but if you really think about it, being unauthentic is a big feeling. Be authentic to who you are, however you are, whatever God has given you and when you tap into those emotions, those experiences, that’s your DNA. No one else can live those experiences. You and I could walk through this place together and your experience and my experience will be different. Respect your experience. Build on those experiences, build innovations, and if you really want to thrive with innovation, thrive with innovation within your heart”, stated HSY as the closing statement of his talk.

‘I’ve realised that when the chips are down and you need to innovate and thrive, look into yourself. The real innovation truly lies within you. Be authentic to yourself. Too fast, too soon we become unauthentic and I know it’s a small word but if you really think about it, being unauthentic is a big feeling,’ stated HSY as the closing statement of his talk

The TEDx event focused on highlighting modern, creative ideas through the lens of people who have proven to be capable of improvising their work as well as lifestyles by means of innovation. The organizers wanted to acknowledge those specific people who are putting their best foot forward in an attempt to improve existing odds in their lives and their field of work. To create a platform where Pakistani’s get to hear their own talent speak, the hosts wanted to bring over remarkable personalities who inspire us, as a nation, to innovate our way to success.

TED Conferences LLC is a renowned American media organisation that posts talks online for free distribution under the slogan “ideas worth spreading.” The main difference between TED and TEDx is that the latter is focused on local gatherings where talks and presentations are shared with the community. It is a programme of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.

HSY is currently working on several other projects with his company and is still appearing in the hit series ‘Pehli Si Mohabbat’ every Saturday at 8pm.