 I think this one person, I've done this for many, many years, and one person I definitely don't have to introduce to, right? Shakira, the greatest entertainer living and also does so much work for public good and advocacy. God bless you for doing that. Thank you. God bless you. And reading about you, you won so many awards, you've performed in front of hundreds, tens of thousands of people, 12 Grammys, it's no joke. And now the Crystal Award. Was that special, that are awards now part of your life, or this is special? No, of course, it's a very prestigious award. But I think that it's mostly a reflection, and I hope that it's a reflection on the global understanding of the importance of investing in early childhood development. I hope that it means that the issue is becoming top of mind for everyone. Right. You've been working on this for many years, and you're a very hands-on person, and everything you do. You don't just sing, you write your songs, you don't just dance, you get into choreography, presentation, production, editing, you're a tiger mom with your children. That's what you've said, actually. And now with child... Not the most relaxed mom ever, I can say that. And now in child development, are you as hands-on? And are there lessons from your early years which you learned and you're implementing now? You mean in what we do on the field? Yes, in your childhood. Education. Yeah, I'm definitely on top of every detail on how the schools work, the progress that we're making in our schools. I decided to create my own foundation when I was only 18, and since then we've been working on education, trying to provide high-quality education. So it is a challenge, and it comes with many obstacles that we had to overcome, and we have to still overcome on a daily basis. We work in areas where, in very remote areas, where literally there's nothing. Sometimes we encounter a tremendous lack of infrastructure, no portable water, in many cases no electricity, no paved roads. So it definitely means that we have to work twice as hard in order to offer quality education. But not only that, also the kids that we attend to, most of them belong to families that have been directly affected by violence, that have lost even family members. So you can imagine the challenges that we encounter when we try to provide that education. So I have to be constantly understanding, learning about their needs. I dedicate a huge portion of my time to advocating for education for all, but also to improving what we offer in our schools in Colombia and other places in the world. I've noticed also that you don't just provide education, again, typical Shakira-style, high-quality education, even if it's for the poorest person, right? Yes, exactly. You focus on that. Yeah, from the beginning, I didn't just want to build schools. I wanted to build state-of-the-art schools. But what does that mean? It means that they had to be comprehensive, integral. They had to encompass not only for walls and learning materials. They had to encompass programs to engage the entire community, to maintain the schools. School-feeding program is the cornerstone upon our programs in our schools are built, upon which, I'm sorry, my English got a little bit, upon which our programs are built. I did not even try. Yes. It's definitely the center and the core of our work, you know, offering food in our schools is such a key, vital element in order to keep the kids in school. So little by little, we were introducing other elements that were improving what we were offering, the kind of education that we were offering, involving the parents, trained teachers and also even making available sports facilities to the rest of the community. And on this, Barca Foundation has been very, very instrumental. We have built a football field, football pitch. I would have thought that's the first thing you built. Not exactly the first. You know, little by little, we've been doing more and more improvements, but I'm telling you, it's so worth it. Every penny that we've invested in schools and in education have been so worth our while. I don't feel that I have wasted any money or effort or energy when it comes to investing in education, especially on ECD. ECD strategies have early childhood development strategies have really demonstrated that are so vital when it comes to keeping kids in school as well and making sure that they succeed not only in school but later in life. It's the story of your life. Shakira only takes things which have got hurdles and then you smash each one of them. I remember as a kid, your music teacher said, you, singer, forget it. Can you imagine a music teacher? I didn't like my voice. Never let me enter the school choir. Yeah, that was a big frustration for me. Luckily, my dad was as stubborn as me and he always encouraged me and said, no, no, no, your voice is amazing. Someday, they will know because I had a very powerful vibrato, you know, which I still keep is a very, I think, a very signature thing of mine. But back in the day, it was kind of like a little disrupting for the rest of the choir. So many of my classmates used to say, Shakira, you seem like a goat. I kind of do have a little goatee thing going on. That's what the teacher said. Well, yeah. And but, you know, my parents were always there insisting on the fact that I had to believe in me and in my dreams. So I really owe them my career, really. More than that. Jeans. Every morning you should thank them for your jeans. Jeans are not that important. I mean, like Professor Heckman says, you know, some, some jeans can be actually activated by, can be triggered by the environment. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Environment is crucial. But I also remember when you switched to English. You're already a big star in, in Latin, most of Latin American countries. But then you switched to English and Rolling Stone said, Shakira, what are you up to? Crazy. Didn't remember that? And you proved them wrong. What did they say? Rolling Stone Magazine. Yeah. Remind me. I have a bad memory now. They said you shouldn't speak, you shouldn't sing in English. That's crazy. And you proved them wrong. I mean, you've had just so many huge hits. Well, I don't recall that. Maybe I just, I only remember the good stuff. You don't remember the good stuff? Well, I must say. Well, a lot, of course I had people who believed in me at the beginning and people who didn't. But, yeah, I guess I, I've been more than talented. I think I've been very persistent. And disciplined as well. I don't think that was being modest. Would anybody here agree with that? No, it's more than, it's talent plus. And I think the work that you're leveraging, your popularity to reach out to a wider audience and people can learn from what you're doing is just wonderful. Hundreds of schools you started. How about a round of applause for just doing it? I see. God bless you. Well, you know what? I've had a great team of people. I would have not been able to achieve many of the things that I achieved in life, both professionally and philanthropically, if I didn't have a great team of committed human beings who want to see changes the same way I do. I've read about your dad. I mean, I just think he's a wonderful person. Of course, dad power. Somebody said good for dad power, right? And I do remember him. Your name means grateful or gratitude. Yeah. And he did something for you at a tough time. So you understood the meaning of gratefulness. It took you to a playground. You know, my dad is a dreamer and idealist. He hasn't been quite the best business person. So at some point in our lives, actually when I was seven years old, we lost pretty much everything we had. He was doing quite well with his jewelry business. But then he made a couple of bad decisions. Yeah. We had a financial crisis in our family. And my mom also wasn't doing very well with her own business. And things changed for us. And I never had a car ever again until I was able to buy my own when I was 15 with a fake license. Did he know that? Yeah. Well, no, an uncle helped me. And you know, for us, losing our financial stability was quite shocking and removed our grounds. And for me, it was quite an impact. I was very shocked by what was going on and seeing so many things change around me. And they took me to the park where many orphans live in Baranqui in my hometown. He took you to a park where orphans were. Yeah. And these orphans usually they sniff glue or resort to terrible things like those in order to survive the tragedy of their lives. And they showed me that all the reality. And it marked me forever. I never forgot that night. And it made me want to do something about it. And I made a promise to myself that day. And being very, very little, I was only seven years old. But I decided that day I decided that I wanted to succeed in life. I needed to bring my family back. I needed to vindicate them socially and economically someday. But I also wanted to do something about those kids. So my entire life, that image remained inside of me and accompanied me. And when I was able to have my big break in Latin America with my album, Pierces Calces, Barefoot, Translates Barefoot, I decided to create my own foundation for children. And it was called right after my album as well. It was called Barefoot Foundation. And since then we've been working for children and specifically providing them a high quality education. It was a turning point that to some extent is motivated you for doing what you're doing right now. Sure. Wow. You also wrote after that, I think your father also lost a son and you wrote a beautiful song. Beautiful made my hair stand up. And Dark Classes. Yeah, I think that was my first song. When I was eight years old. Eight years old. My first song. And actually it was included in my first album that was released when I was 13. I started very early. And the Dark Classes was... Dark Classes, I think it was a metaphor for him trying to hide, conceal the pain of his loss. Right. I imagine that in my childish head that's how I interpreted things. I wrote a song about it with a spin on it. Beautiful. Major emotional turning points in your childhood which obviously has helped you choose how to teach and what to teach little kids. Yeah, coming from a country like mine, being born and raised in a country like Colombia it definitely shaped me as a person that I am today and shaped my views on the world and what we can do. And if I'm sure about something is that we can all be active. We can all help contribute in some way to change those realities that we don't agree with. Those things that we grow up intolerant of and that you don't really need to be a celebrity to affect change. You can be a stay-at-home mom. You can be a young person going to college or in college. You can be a journalist, of course. But everybody nowadays, thanks to the power of social media, anybody really has a platform and a voice. And there's so much that everyone can do to make issues like the lack of access to ECB programs top of mind. So everybody talks about it. All I can say is two things. One is thank God you're an entertainer because I was at the World Cup final in South Africa and you came in the stadium and the whole stadium, you made them rock. That was just a wonderful moment. You remember that? Yeah. I've been at the World Cup three times. I know three times. I don't think they're going to buy me anymore. Yeah. 2006, 2010. And the last one, 2014 in Brazil. But the year that was really exceptional for me was 2010, which is when I met the father of my kids. Yes. So I had a double purpose then. Double whammy. So you're amazing, talented, and you don't just write songs as I mentioned, sing songs, you write them, you get involved in everything. So everybody wonders if you weren't a singer, entertainer, songwriter, what would you be? Probably a doctor. Doctor? Yeah. I like medicine. I would have probably gone to medical school. But now I'm so fascinated by neuroscience and all the new discoveries on the brain, on the human brain. That would probably be my specialty in neuroscience. Yeah. And you can do so much for people who are the doctor. I think so. I think that if we all had the consciousness, the awareness that we can all do so much for others, no matter what you do in life. I mean, as a matter of fact, for the issue of early childhood that needs so much awareness, public campaigns are such an important part of it. And like I said before, making the issue top of mind, anyone can share thoughts on the internet. Anyone can share literature on the issue. If you work in peer and marketing, you can help craft a marketing campaign that perhaps shows parents and teachers how to best stimulate their children in the first years of their lives. If you are in the mobile and tech industry, for example, you can share your bandwidth. You can use your bandwidth to share or give for free educational material. Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah. Universities can step up their research, can actually help develop a curriculum for pre-K, which doesn't exist currently in many, many countries. So there is really so much that can be done. And like I said before, you don't have to be a politician or a singer-songwriter or a model. No, you can reach out. To draw attention to these important issues or other causes that people really resonate with them. Let me take a quick poll of the audience. How many of you would have preferred Shakira be a doctor and how many prefer her being an entertainer? Hands up for doctor. I'd be an amazing doctor. No, entertainer. How many really entertainer? Everybody entertainer. So just as well you did. I've always wondered you had so many... I'd be a sexy doctor, though. I'll put my best effort. I've always wondered one famous song which you wish you had sung. There's so many songs that I sometimes feel like, oh, damn right. I wish I had done that. I would have written that one. It happens often. I think it happens to all of us singers that we wish we would have had those songs. I would have thought of that one first. It's such a brilliant idea. I can't think of anything right now, but I do get that feeling often. You do get it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You used to sing, and now unfortunately it's my generation. I can see a few. Elvis Presley always on my mind. Oh, that's an amazing song. You sang it beautifully. Yeah, I sang it once for a VH1 special. The Divas. I remember vividly because it was Mariah Carey. There was Yamalisa Edwards, Mary J. Blyche. Cher was there. And we were all singing classic songs. Yeah, and I had to sing that one. Actually, I chose that one. I like it. Elvis fan? Like a dance? Yeah, big time. Okay. You won't sing one line of always on your mind now? We'll join in. Ready to join in? Of course we'll join. You were always on my mind. You were always on my mind. Amazing, wow. Beautiful. I'm shy. You were really good. Did you say you were shy? I am shy. That's wonderful. I swear to God. I mean, I kind of have the, you know, everything at the proper stage. The band and the bag. Everything has to be ready for, you know, for production. But when I'm in the middle of a small group, I get a little shy. This is a small group for me. You need 25,000 people. Exactly. I mean, more and then I get whee. Listen up. Now, in your, I've always wondered in your generation, our generation, me and your dad, same generation, haven't left you the greatest world. It's polluted, climate change. So a lot from us you should de-learn and some of you did. Now you, for the kids you're teaching, back to child development, what of your generation should they not learn or de-learn? I agree with you. I think that my parents' generation and generations before them had to deal with so much suffering and they struggled so much that perhaps they grew immune to human pain and those images of destruction became commonplace for many of them. And perhaps they accepted or assumed that they couldn't change the reality that they were brought up with, that they were unchangeable truths. So I would certainly hope that my kids don't feel that way. There's no such thing as an unchangeable truth. You can't change anything. Of course, there can really be agents of change. There can be the architects of their own destiny, our common destiny as a human race and that they can really contribute something to society. Yeah, I think that indifference is the worst and complacency is the worst enemy of progress. So there's one thing that Shakira has promised to tell us in a couple of minutes, one secret in her life that she's never told anybody and she's going to tell you guys now, even though you're not 25,000 people. Secret. Before you say that, influences in your life, these turning points, two or three of them that affect your child development, I mean your approach to child development, in your personal life, three influences, your turning points that you think, look, I want the kids I teach not to go through that or to learn from that. Well, I know that, for example, I was born and raised in a country at war. My country, I saw an internal conflict that surrounded me for many years. By the way, I do want to say to everybody, Colombia is the most beautiful country in the world. Most underestimated people don't know enough about it. You can go there, gorgeous country and wonderfully friendly people. It's beautiful, it's true and it's people are the best, I think, because all the best the country has to offer, really. They make you feel at home, right? Yeah, I'm just bold. Our whole family was just looked after by a family of Colombians who gave up their life for that. Oh, that's very sweet. I love it when someone speaks so highly of my country. But what were we talking about? Influences in your life. It's called post-pregnancy brain, but it has lasted like four years in my case. Couple of influences in your life, which you make sure your children, that you've learned from and you don't want them to go through it and you make sure in your teaching. Well, violence, mainly. Violence, yeah. I grew up in a very violent country. And now, Colombians all more than ever are hopeful that our kids and the newer generations and generations to come will be able to live in a peaceful environment where they can flourish. However, I'm convinced that if we do want long-lasting peace, real sustainable peace, we need to think how important it is to achieve a commitment from all sectors of society, not only the public sector, not only the government, but also the private sector. They have a great responsibility and a critical, critical role to play. And also, all sectors of society, we all have to be committed to give equal opportunities to the poor. If you offer equal opportunities to the poor, then we're talking about a more prosperous and stable country and a more prosperous and stable world. So I do hope that my kids understand that. The bigger picture. The bigger picture and how important it will be for them to be committed to make a better world, to leave this world better than we found it. And that's actually the secret that I can think of, things I haven't said before, is that I secretly hope that my kids can become humanitarians. My own children. My own children, yeah. I don't know exactly what causes or I will never push anything to them, but I just hope that they are aware of the power that they can have as human beings in this new world that we're building, because it is a completely new world. We're going through the fourth industrial revolution. Everything is changing and new realms are opening up in front of ourselves ahead of us. But it also comes with many, many challenges. Existing models, economic models are being disrupted and from here to 2050, there will be massive growth of population and there will be starvation if we don't feed 9 billion people. We have to find smart ways, strategic ways to sustain our planet. Climate change, unemployment, so many things. And you want your children. Well, my children and all the children in the world, those 250 million kids who are at risk of not receiving enough access to stimulation, education, nutrition, all of those elements that are going to be so vital to prepare them, to prepare them for what's coming. I mean, we are already here and we are already facing so many, many challenges. But there are more to come and our kids, not only my kids, your kids and those 250 million kids who are at risk, need to be prepared to face them in smart ways, strategic ways, and for that, they all need access to education and information. That's beautiful. And something's going to make everybody angry. I've been told we've run out of time. You know, I can talk forever, especially when it comes to lichahutu. God bless you so you want your children not to be entertainers, but to change society. That's going to kill me because one wants one of them to be a football player, but I don't know about that. No, but really, whatever they do in life, even if they dedicate their lives to making shoes or whatever that they feel passionate about, they can put it at the service of social good and they can find creative ways to solve social problems as we all can. God bless you, Shakira. I thought your secret was going to be that you're actually motivated by Bollywood. I love Bollywood. Your hipstone lie song has got some Bollywood elements, right? It does. Yeah, it's inspired by it greatly, yeah. I don't know if anybody wants to do hipstone lie here.