Purpose and Passion: The Real Story Behind Making Impact

From international aid worker to award-winning documentary director (HBO 40 Under 40) to venture-backed founder-CEO, Catherine Lee has reinvented herself repeatedly to maximize impact. Harvard Kennedy School named her Emerging Global Leader of 2024 for “pioneering change by paving her own path… very different roles, but what unite them is Lee’s creativity and drive.” Catherine, who has worked in 21 countries in settings ranging from conflict zones to red carpets, is proof that you can pursue your purpose, passion, and impact. Or... is she?

In this fireside chat, Catherine speaks candidly about the unseen realities behind meaningful work: personal tolls, moral contradictions, financial insecurity, even physical insecurity, and the persistence required to keep going when the dream no longer looks romantic. What she’s learned never appeared in the syllabi of her courses at Harvard or Yale; it came from the next two decades of failures, burnouts, decision crises, and rebuilding identity again and again.

This session won’t give lip service to “finding your purpose.” It’s about navigating the long, messy road between meaning and reality and still choosing to make something that matters: how to build resilience that isn’t performative, how to stay connected to yourself when your identity keeps fracturing, and how to stay grounded and embodied when your mission threatens to consume you.