Bigger impact
For 30 years, I worked in the insurance industry, most recently as a farm underwriting manager at Nationwide. Everything changed this past spring, when a life-changing opportunity arose.
As a result of this opportunity, I embarked on a big career change and became CEO of the premier mentoring organization in our community, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Iowa (BBBSCI). The opportunity to lead this 54-year nonprofit and serve our youth was something I couldn’t say no to.
I have three lessons that I’ve learned since joining Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Iowa.
1. The importance of telling the BBBSCI story and about our impact in the community.
We serve a wide population but are often confused with another nonprofit organization. What I am extremely excited about is the opportunity to elevate and amplify our mission and vision about our role in youth development. Mentoring is a key and critical component of navigating life, discovering one’s identity and purpose, and achieving success. That is what we do at Big Brothers Big Sisters. We pair youth with an adult who matches their personality, their interests, their life goals and their needs. These matches often blossom into lifelong relationships that help these once small youth develop into adulthood. We have so many of these stories to share.
At a very young age, I was taught the value of possessing a strong character – particularly one that emulates a “paying it forward” attitude. My passion to serve others comes from family influences. I credit my mother and the people who poured into me and opened doors for me and invested in me as the reason I have achieved success in my life. My mother taught me early in life that it is my duty and responsibility as a human being to reach back and bring others forward with me on my journey. It is because of these influencers that my passion is mentoring young people and sharing life lessons with them. It is from the many mentors in my life that I have adopted a mantra of “love the life you live, live the life you love, and you will always be surrounded by love.”
BBBSCI has about 90 youths (Littles) waiting to be matched with a mentor (Big). Please consider this assignment: Sign up to be a Big. Mentor a child in our community. We cannot thrive in this life alone. It takes a village and our youth need you.
2. Everyone deserves to know their value and walk in their purpose.
During my first 30 days in the CEO role, I spent time focusing on getting to know the team – my team. I knew none of them and they knew very little about me. Yet here I was asking them to trust me and follow me in leading this organization. I met with each of them individually to hear about their lives, observe their personalities, listen to their goals and dreams. I also collected their feedback about how we could make Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Iowa bigger and better. After holding these listening sessions, I made some organizational changes to align the team with responsibilities that matched with who they are and what they enjoy. We also completed the StrengthsFinder exercise together. This provided insights for all of us individually and as a team. We now know our strengths in both and can act on them effectively and continue to find enjoyment in what we do for ourselves, BBBSCI, and for the people we serve.
We have an employee events committee and a wellness committee to support the team’s engagement and encourage healthy lifestyles. Our employee events committee does just as the name describes. They organize fun activities for the office staff to congregate and engage in. Activities include an office cookout, birthday and work anniversary celebrations, potlucks, etc. The wellness committee organizes activities like water challenges (to ensure we all get our daily water intake), walking challenges (to ensure we are getting in our steps and staying physically active), and Bring Your Dog to Work Week (to provide joy and happiness in the office – as a stress reliever). As the organization’s leader, I not only support but encourage these committees to do their thing. It allows the committee leads to use their strengths and it shows the team that they are valued.
3. What “bigger together” really means.
The past two months in this role have afforded me the chance to get out and meet with some of our key donors/sponsors, board members and Bigs. What I have learned through these meetings is how much people care and how much they want to help make Central Iowa the best it can be. When we partner together, we make a bigger impact. Whether it is collaborating with local sports teams and event organizers to provide free tickets for our Big/Little matches to enjoy an outing or giving out backpacks to our Littles, each partnership makes a positive impact. There is much excitement to support our programs: community-based mentoring, school-based mentoring, workplace mentoring, and I Am Enough (our newest program). We could not do this work without the collective engagement of everyone in our community. We are truly bigger together for our youth in Central Iowa.
Why is philanthropy important to our community?
Our parent organization, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, says it best: “When an individual or company donates to a nonprofit/charity, it makes them feel connected to their community.” We are fortunate to live in a very philanthropic community with incredible nonprofits. Without philanthropy, nonprofits would not be able to fulfill their mission and positively impact Central Iowa. It is through the support of donors/sponsors and volunteers that BBBSCI is able to thrive and form one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth in our community.
