Why I started Pearly
I know what it feels like to be the child who slips through the cracks. I came to Australia at eleven, barely speaking the language, and I saw how easily a kid can be overlooked. I started Pearly because no child should miss out on something as simple as a healthy smile, not because of where they live, what their family earns, or whether anyone thought to check on them.
I was too young to register a business or to drive a car. My mum would drive me, or I'd catch the bus, to schools where I'd present my oral-health program.
The arc
From a classroom presentation to a clinic on wheels.
Arrived at eleven
I came to Australia with my family and almost no English.
Top of the state
Dux of my school, a 99 ATAR, and second in the state for English.
Founded at seventeen
I started a mobile oral-health program before I was old enough to drive to it.
A clinic on wheels
Today a fully-equipped clinic visits schools, childcare and aged-care across NSW and QLD.
150,000+ children
And counting, in the classrooms and centres most services never reach.
Off the clock
People are often surprised by how young I am for all this. The truth is I'm still the same person who got nervous before her first classroom presentation, and who calls her mum after every big day. I just decided early that being young was no reason to wait.
Recognition
Work that's been noticed, here and abroad.
The reason
150,000+
children reached
Because where a child is born should never decide whether they grow up with a healthy smile.
Dr Rand Younes
Founder, Pearly Mobile Dental