Growing up in a rural community and Sparta, you learn that change is inevitable, and one must learn to embrace the difficulties and accept challenges as an opportunity. With my inner desire to ignite the spark of change and bring rural communities back to life, my dream is to make a strong social impact by raising awareness that our roots, values and principles are those that give us the strength to become the person we are today.The dream and vision to make a social impact, led me to join forces with a core team of 4 and co-founded the non-profit social organization ‘Vamvakou Revival’, in a small village of the Peloponnese and Mount Parnon, with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) in 2018.I see this project as a social experiment and through my role as an Event Program & Partnership Development Director at Vamvakou Revival, I design and develop social and cultural programs which include educational and technological workshops, cultural and social events for the community, and annual festivals.Reviving a ghost town may seem to be a complicated task but nothing worth doing is ever easy and since the establishment of Vamvakou Revival in 2018, my team and I have been able to trigger the interest of people around the world attracting thousands of visitors and putting the small village back on the map.As a person who wears many hats, I am also a writer and published author of 3 non-fiction novels, a radio producer and broadcaster and an active member of the Vamvakou community.“Growing up, people must understand that society is not angelically made. Violence everywhere. Around us, next to us, within us. When you accept it, you are asked to choose. You will either suffer it, or you will exercise it. There is no middle ground.” – Haris Vasilakos | Writer – Book Author