by Monica Mendoza

“You have the most beautiful voice” … Bono.

It was early evening on Friday June 20, 1997. That was the loveliest compliment paid to me by a celebrity (by any celebrity) …and by Bono no less! I was beyond excited. I was talking to the lead singer of a band I loved. It’s a memory that still makes me giddy. I must admit that I have since been on a mission to find Bono….

I was 18 years old and living in Des Moines, Iowa. I had my very first job and was living on my own. I wrapped up at work and started the drive home (I had a little 1.0 liter three-cylinder Geo Metro, that could go to “warp” if you turned off the A/C — in case you’re wondering what kind of chariot this 18-year old IT Analyst drove). The local station was playing on the radio. A special program, “Pop Invasion,” that was being nationally broadcast out of KROQ in L.A. had already started. (Carson Daly was there; it was a few years before he was recruited to be an MTV VJ — remember those?) How could I have forgotten! U2 was on the radio promoting their PopMart tour and I completely forgot.

I made it home, turned on my stereo (a double-deck stereo I got from my amazing parents as a high school graduation present), scrambled for a cassette tape (yep, I did just say cassette tape), popped it into the little stereo and hit record to capture even the last moments of the interview. It was supposed to be a one hour show and it was almost over when they announced that U2 had agreed to stick around for another hour and take questions from callers. OMG! I immediately grabbed the phone, an ivory slimline attached to the wall of my apartment kitchen, and dialed. (Wow, a landline…all sorts of old school gems in here). It was ringing. What are the chances? I was not hanging up…and then there was a voice on the other end. My heart was beating a mile a minute — did I really get through?!

“Hello, what is your question for U2?”

I was not immediately on-air but had the chance to wow the guy screening callers with a great question — one that was good enough to be put on the air.

So, this was the beautiful melding of my inner nerd and my love for U2:

“Um, yeah, I wanted to ask them if they have an official website yet.”

The guy liked it and had me hold on the line. I was FREAKING OUT! (In those days, you had to FREAK OUT all by yourself, there was no Twitter to blab to, no selfie #holdingforbono to Instagram, no humble-bragging to be done on Facebook.)

After what seemed like an eternity, they handed me off to the host, Jed the Fish (super funny to type that). If I was nervous before, I was really nervous now. In my little voice I said, “Oh, this is exciting….” Insert banter between Jed and U2. “Alright, Monica […] do you have a question for U2?” and that was my queue —

“I heard that the Edge was doing a lot with the Internet and I just wanted to know if they have a website or something up on the Net.” (apparently, I was channeling Sandra Bullock).

The Edge came through with the answer. “Right now, we’re about to give you the, uh, call sign — it’s U2PopMart.msn.com and if you get on your computer right now you can see some groovy stuff.” (Ok, another little detail to share…I was not on my computer nor did I even have an internet connection or wifi at home in those days. Gasp-right? Also, it wasn’t until later that I found out I had provided the segue for them to make this big announcement of a collaboration between U2 and Microsoft — a company that I would later work for…ah, the coincidences in life…)

I followed by sharing that I believed U2 was here to stay and admitted that I’d never been to any of their concerts and just as I was about to finish adding that I was hoping to catch them in Minneapolis, Bono speaks up.

“Can I change that for you?”

WORLD ROCKED! He admitted real sincerity and then added the compliment about my voice…sigh. They were not kidding. They got my contact info off the air and two weeks later I get a call from their office in NY. On October 29, 1997, I went to my very first U2 concert with my younger brother as my +1. We were two excited kids on a road trip to Minneapolis taking photos with a film camera (I’d share them but they were printed and probably in a physical photo album somewhere in storage, oh yeah, not the cloud). It was amazing, I mean how could it be anything else…. Bono gave me tickets to my very first U2 concert!

Who knew that 20 years later I’d be thinking a lot about Bono and not because of U2 but because of the man he had become outside of his music career. Bono the philanthropist and humanitarian (yes, I’m getting a little serious now). He’s received countless accolades, awards and much recognition for his philanthropic work. Far too many for me to do them justice here.

He’s quite thoughtful as he talks about his greatest achievement with his daughter.

“If celebrity has anything to offer, it’s that you can use celebrity to shine a light on issues and put a spotlight on people whose voices are not heard.”

For him it’s about realizing the potential of people and how that potential could be achieved if only they get the help they need. In 1986 in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Bono recalls how he himself was inspired to get involved.

“I was part of that audience once. I saw The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball [a film account of Amnesty benefit highlights], and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed.”

I had one of those moments six years ago. I saw a tweet through the Windows (sorry couldn’t help the pun). Jolkona, a non-profit based in Seattle was running a campaign that would provide important help to orphans in Bolivia (hey, that’s where I was born).

I introduced myself, volunteered for three and a half years and now here I am. Founders, Adnan and Nadia Mahmud turned the reigns over to me and gave me the hefty responsibility to lead this organization.

In June 2014 Jolkona ran a social entrepreneurship accelerator pilot — we hosted 5 inspiring young leaders from Indonesia in Seattle.

For the next two weeks we offered focused workshops, paired them with experienced mentors and visited local companies who exemplified success & excellence.

It was a packed two weeks! Our five founders were wiped out (in a good way).

Following a successful pilot, Jolkona’s co-founders and board were convinced this program provided valuable support for young leaders who are starting social ventures.

In October 2014, I was brought in to lead the organization and transform Jolkona’s mission to one that was focused on social entrepreneurship. I immediately began planning the next cohort. Building on the model of the pilot program, we enhanced the mentorship and training modules and successfully ran our second cohort.

The result of this program was not exactly what I was expecting. You see, I believed we were providing these young founders the mentorship and business training they lacked and that they would learn so much from all the brilliant folks we had lined up for them. And yes, while we accomplished what we set out to do, it was at the close of the second cohort that I stumbled upon what we had actually achieved.

It was at that moment that I realized that Jolkona had sparked the start of a diverse global community of people who wanted to roll up their sleeves and work together to tackle the world’s toughest problems. I have heard on countless occasions from our mentors how much they learned from these young founders.