He works at a store. Now he’s our next professor.
It’s been 7 days since my last email. That wasn’t planned. I didn’t go on a break. I was just… deep inside the work. Calls. Spreadsheets. Reading applications. Venue visits. Pricing tweaks. Conversations that go nowhere. Conversations that open up everything.
I’ve been living inside this idea — DNA Weekend School — and every day it’s teaching me something new.
Here’s what I’ve realised:
There’s a difference between planning a school and building one. Planning is calm. Building is chaos. Planning is the whiteboard. Building is showing up to rooms, getting ghosted, getting excited, getting tired, and doing it again the next morning.
We now have 30+ applications. People from different cities. People with different lives. But somehow, all pulled in by this idea of learning again, together, for real.
It’s not perfect.
But it’s moving.
And that’s enough for now.
Today, we onboarded a new professor for DNA Weekend School. He’s not famous. Doesn’t have a shiny title. Doesn’t work at a unicorn startup.
He works full-time at a store. Travels on weekends. Camps in forests, deserts, and on beaches. And he’s helped hundreds of people learn how to camp, survive, and reconnect with the outdoors.
He runs a small community — a group of travellers who trust him. He’s what you’d call a micro-influencer. But more than that, he’s a real one.
I asked him if he’d be open to teaching a session on basic survival skills and camping essentials — not some adventure show, but the kind of knowledge you’d want to pass on to a friend before they head off-grid.
He hesitated. Said, “I’m not sure I’m teacher material.” “Classroom setup feels scary.”
And I get that. Most people who have real knowledge don’t think of themselves as “teachers.” Because they’re too busy doing the thing. Living it. Learning it by living it.
But I convinced him.
A few minutes ago, I got a message from him.
“I’m in.”
That’s it. One message. One more piece of this puzzle is falling into place.
This is why I’m building DNA Weekend School.
To bring people like him into the room.
To give voices like his a mic.
Not every teacher wears a mic or holds a degree.
Some hold a tent bag and a lifetime of lived stories.
—Deepak
The Community Man
Building DNA Weekend School, one “I’m in” at a time.