The Starting Point.

Most initiatives begin with a gap somebody notices in their own life. Youmna Baladi noticed hers while looking for something worthwhile for her son, and finding that the options available were thin.

We talk about what Lebanese schools do well, and about what they were never designed to do. Academic results are taken seriously here; the culture around education is genuinely strong. But the space between a good report card and a young person who knows themselves is wide, and nobody is formally responsible for it. Youmna describes recognising that gap as a mother before she thought of it as a founder.

From there the conversation follows the ordinary, unglamorous work of building something: the first small events, the parents who were unconvinced, the teenagers who arrived reluctant and left different, the logistics of doing any of this in a country that keeps interrupting plans.

We also talk about teenagers themselves — how quickly they respond to being taken seriously, how much of their confidence depends on being given real responsibility rather than reassurance, and how visible the difference is when someone finally asks them what they are interested in.

And we talk about purpose. Youmna is clear that Tomorrow Teen Forum did not begin as a mission. It began as a need. The mission grew because the need turned out to be shared by a great many families.