ISTE reached out to inspiring people from a range of fields and asked them to share their insights in mini-keynotes at ISTE 2014. This EdTekTalk is one in a series of five videos that showcases futurists, designers and entrepreneurs.

It was a two-hour meeting about door knobs that ultimately drove Emily Pilloton to leave her prestigious job at an architecture firm to teach design to teenagers living in a poor county in North Carolina. And she's never looked back.

Pilloton, who founded nonprofit Project H to help develop effective design solutions for people who need it most, didn't know exactly what she was getting into when she took a job teaching 16-year-olds in Bertie County, North Carolina. Her story is the focus of the documentary " "If You Build It," " which follows her class through the process of designing and building a farmers' market in their town. It turned out to be a tall order and a labor of love.

Pilloton says she grew up in a tree house, and making things was how she came to make sense of the world. That's what she hoped to pass on to her students.

" "We can design and build real things in the real world for real people that are done with love and a little pizazz and audacity and spectacle," " she says.

The EdTekTalks are returning to the ISTE Conference & Expo! Sign up for the conference mailing list to be the first to find out which innovators from beyond ed tech will speak at ISTE 2015.