Ashwin Srisailam & Diane Bacchus-Quddus

Ahhaa Co-Founder and CEO, Ashwin Srisailam, and Co-Founder and President, Diane Bacchus-Quddus on inspiration as a business tool, the necessary “ingredient’ to transform life’s “ahhaa moments” into action, and the inspiring stories we all have to tell that connect us and enable us create a more caring world.

Ashwin Srisailam is former monk who grew up an only child in India. Diane Bacchus-Quddus is a working mother of two and youngest of nine children who lives with her family in Queens, NY. But after a chance encounter, the two discovered they had one important thing in common – to inspire others and help the world. They created Ahhaa, a social network and app that, to date, is allowing 60,000 people (and counting) to inspire others by sharing stories, solutions and breakthroughs that have made a difference in their own lives.

Neither Diane nor Ashwin have a background in technology. Ahhaa started as a single thought Ashwin had - that technology and the Internet could be a global ‘help’ engine. At that time, he was seeking answers. He didn’t know what path to follow and was unclear how to help himself, let alone create a global app. Like many things we are destined to do, he found a way. A year later he met Diane, another passionate person, which is when his “ahhaa moment” became an idea, then a vision, and finally a collective goal that today is an inspirational reality.

Can you share an ‘ahhaa moment’ that you had as a child that caused you to believe life and the world could be different?

Diane:

Growing up in Guyana, we didn’t have a lot. My mom and dad made ends meet by baking bread and cakes. So at age 9, I became an “entrepreneur” by helping to sell them door-to-door. It felt really good to be a contributor and know that what I was doing would help my entire family. From that moment, I never stopped imagining and seeking out the “more” in work, the world, and life.

Ashwin:

Things drastically changed when I was 13 years old. My parents took me to a program in the southern part of India. There, I met another 13-year-old who was addressing a crowd of almost 600. She talked about life and beautifully articulated that we do not have to “become” one [to connect with others] because we already are one in consciousness.

That idea and moment changed my life. We might have different life experiences, backgrounds, or even upbringings, but we all want to be happy. We all seek love and approval. Specific experiences might lead to a certain calling in life, but we all want joy, fulfillment and happiness, and to be more inclusive than exclusive.

What’s your approach to connecting with someone who you may not see eye-to-eye with, or may perhaps acts negatively toward you?

Ashwin:

First and the foremost, the other person must know that you’re not there to intimidate, teach, or impose your ideas on him or her, but rather, to simply listen. You’re there to “journey” with that person and come from a place of awareness and growth, and not judgment. Every person’s response will vary, but what will happen for sure is that person will leave with an impression of “I felt something that I’ve never felt before” because they may only experience judgment anywhere else they go. You can never change anyone who feels that you are judging them.

What was the ‘ahhaa’ behind Ahhaa ?

Ashwin:

I was walking in Los Angeles, where I lived as a monk. I thought how limiting and almost hopeless it was to think that only the successful or experts can help the world. I wondered, is it really impossible for [everyday] people to help each other? While in this very lost place, I Googled everything and anything. I typed keywords about feeling lost and all that would come up was “lost and found property.” Here we have this very robust, mind-blowing Internet with a tremendous amount of information. I wondered how we can use it to actually have people help people.

Diane:

We didn’t have a technology background, but we had vision and that’s all that mattered at that moment. I thought if we have the vision, believed it and lived it, then why not just make it happen? People have been inspiring people since the beginning of time, but we wanted to create one place to get all this [“inspiration”] information.

Now a stay-at-home mom’s story may inspire another mother or a father in another part of the world who is working hard to take care of their kids. At any given moment in life, we can connect and share our story with someone else.

How does anyone transform their life’s ahhaa moment or ideas into action?

Ashwin:

There are two scenarios: an ahhaa moment with a vision; and an ahhaa moment without a vision. We all have ideas [without a vision] that are just random experiences that die down. Vision gives a sense of direction where anything and everything can fall into place.

Vision shifts our mentality from a place of blame or even procrastination to a place of responsibility. It changes that way that you think, which in turn changes your thoughts and dramatically changes the way you act. Stop waiting for your boss, partner or community to change because if any change has to be made it starts with you.

Someone can have an ahhaa moment, big idea or even vision, but how do they find the confidence to break through fear?

>Diane:

Sometimes the action we need to take is no action at all, but rather to think or feel. Who knows when one person will be ready to take action? As long as they have an environment or “container” that they can go to and see stories from others in their situation who have done it, they can, and will, take action when they are ready.

Ashwin:

Ambition can be a very scary place because even if we are recognized for reaching the top, how long will it last? Imagine doing something for 10 years but not having anyone recognize your work – you’d feel very alone. But if you work for 10 years with a vision you’ll always feel connected because vision is about inclusion. Vision percolates to others; it doesn’t end with you. We envision Ahhaa to bring success to endless people; having that vision allows our personal fears to disappear because we’re doing what we do for the well-being of others.

Sometimes our greatest ‘teachers’ are things that don’t go well. Could you share something that didn’t go as planned and what the lesson was for you?

Diane:

Ashwin and I had no idea about technology – all we knew was how to send and receive emails. One might think, why would someone create a social networking community if they lacked that expertise? We didn’t limit our vision to be only what we had already done/known before. So next thing you know, we’re looking for coders and designers to create a website that communicated the Ahhaa vision.

We put everything into the website and then realized, wow we need to market this. To get to the next level, we were going to have to create and launch a free app in order for more people to share more stories.

I wouldn’t call it a failure, but it was certainly a harsh reality because our [financial] resources were running down and we weren’t clear, strategically, what to do next.

We just knew we were going to make it happen and giving it up wasn’t an option. In fact, I believe that everything each of us has done has brought us to this exact point in our lives. We are living our purpose all the time and not realizing it. There is not one point in your life when you wake up and say, “I am this person,” because we are that person all that time. You just have to align who you are with the reality of what you want to do.

Ashwin: So much good is happening day in and day out. Providing this “container” [Ahhaa] to showcase this goodness would be incredible because so much of the world’s negativity is being sensationalized. We need to gather, brand and globalize the good in order for perceptions to change.

What is one piece of unconventional or quiet wisdom that you have learned from someone?

Ashwin:

When I decided to become a monk my aspiration was to be like that 13-year-old girl, not because of the position or title but because of her impact on others. In that moment, I saw people transition from experiencing tears of pain to experiencing tears of joy. My passion became to impact others. Living for 17 years as a monk, I studied the teachings and insights of the world. But the biggest learning has been that wisdom does not come from learning the most profound teachings of world’s sages but rather in our ability to connect and listen.

Diane:

I am the only child in my family who finished college – mostly because of my young age and the opportunities I’ve had. As the birth of Ahhaa came about, I showed it to my sister, and I told her to check it out and share her thoughts. As the project grew, she started making these amazing waves and posts. I’m looking at her and thinking, “Is this my sister? Where was this person?”

Prior to being on the platform, she was using traditional social media platforms in traditional ways. Ahhaa has changed her life by giving her opportunity to help and inspire others. I used to think that my sister and I were very different. She taught me we are all the same and have the same desire to make a difference. Our life experiences can change us and sometimes hide our beauty inside. But given the opportunity and a new perspective, it can actually be unleashed.

About Ashwin and Diane: Ashwin Srisailam is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ahhaa. Born and raised in Mumbai India, Ashwin started his lifelong journey of helping others at age 13. Since then, he has been learning and teaching people to find happiness by focusing less on our individual selves and more on a collective purpose. A humanitarian and public speaker, Ashwin has traveled the world inspiring and teaching more than 50,000 people in 35 countries on the ‘art’ of living.’ He is passionately obsessed with the desire to raise human standards. Ashwin is Living on Purpose as the co-founder of the world’s first network of inspiration and ideas. Ashwin Srisailam is a former monk and currently lives in both India and New York. Follow Ashwin at here.

Diane Bacchus-Quddus is the Co-Founder and President of Ahhaa. Diane left her successful career in business working for American Express Financial Advisors, and American International Group to pursue her passion and find her purpose. An entrepreneur at heart, she sold bread door to door as a child in Guyana to support her family, ran a retail pharmacy, and worked on a venture for sustainable water vending machines. Diane is Living on Purpose as mother who is immensely passionate about bringing inspiration and kindness to this planet. Diane holds a B.A. in Political Science/Sociology from the City University of New York. Follow Diane at here

About Ahhaa:

Ahhaa is a people-to-people inspiration engine where individual people share stories, ideas, and solutions to bring the best of humanity together through technology.

The free Ahhaa App is downloadable through iTunes and the Andriod Play Store and has been experiencing steady growth since it was “co-launched” in April 2015 by Oscar-winning musician A.R Rahman. To date, the app downloads have exceeded 60,000 and Ahhaa is gaining 2000-3000 new users per day.

Individuals, high schools, and colleges/universities are using Ahhaa to create and share “vision boards,” for their life and electronic portfolios of their work, which they share by creating “waves” of inspiration. Businesses and organizations are also using the platform to share inspiring stories, passion, and talent behind a product or service they offer.

Follow Ahhaa on Twitter at @ahhaaapp