Your Story is Worthy - 10 Nonprofit Pros Overcoming Fears of Imposter Syndrome & Self-Doubt

This episode is presented by Evertrue.

Today is the 100th episode of the Missions to Movements Podcast! And I’m celebrating with a kaleidoscope of eye-opening conversations that will leave you inspired and invigorated.

I asked 10 nonprofit professionals this one important question: what has been a highlight moment from their career?

We are often so quiet and hold back from telling our own stories. But that's how we connect with our colleagues, donors, board members, volunteers, and our friends, right? It's always around our stories.

Trust me, you don’t want to miss the chance to bask in these shared triumphs of our guests (including many stories that have never before been shared!) and understand the pivotal role of storytelling in connecting us all.

So, come aboard, share this episode on Instagram, and don't forget to review us - your feedback keeps this journey going!

Resources & Links

After GivingTuesday winds down, how can you set yourself up for higher retention rates all year long? Join my free webinar with Evertrue on January 16th to learn how to creatively use video campaigns, email, and direct mail to reengage your supporters! RSVP and start the New Year with me at positiveequation.com/thanks.

Evertrue offers free, on-demand documentaries, series, and over 250 podcast episodes tailored for fundraisers. Start binging at evertrue.com/studios.

Applications are now open to join my Monthly Giving Mastermind program! Ready to build a dedicated community of recurring donors to generate consistent revenue? Learn more and apply here.

Don’t miss DonorPerfect’s Community Conference SPARK on June 4 & 5! It’s for any fundraiser wanting to excel in donor management, program innovation, community engagement, and organizational growth. Register for FREE! RSVP: https://bit.ly/DSSPARK

Want a donor acquisition plan tailored to you? All you need to do is answer 5 simple questions. Get your personalized growth plan: https://bit.ly/DonorGrowthQuiz

The NIO Summit is the nonprofit industry’s premier digital fundraising event! Join hundreds of fellow nonprofit professionals in Indianapolis September 18-19 and save $600 on your ticket -- the lowest price available anywhere right here: https://bit.ly/NIOSummit2024

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:36

I interviewed 10 people while I was on the road speaking a few weeks ago. I asked 10 non-profit professionals what has been a highlight moment from their career. We are often so quiet and hold back from telling our own stories, but that's how we connect with each other, right With colleagues, donors, board members, volunteers, our friends. It's always around stories. Hey, there, you're listening to the Missions to Movement podcast and I'm your host, dana Snyder, digital Strategist for Non-profits and Founder and CEO of Positive Equation. This show highlights the digital strategies of organizations making a positive impact in the world. Ready to learn the latest trends, actionable tips and the real stories from behind the feed. Let's transform your mission into a movement. Hello, hello. This is Episode 100. It doesn't even seem real Episode 100. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. And I wanted to do something really special highlighting you, the listeners that truly make this show happen and possible. Every time I attend an event and get to talk to a listener or hear from you after reading a review or a LinkedIn message, it is honestly the best feeling ever. So please keep coming up to me and please keep saying hello. I love hosting the show and thinking about what guests you might find exciting and coming up with questions that I hope you would want asked as well. So, in honor of this 100th episode, I interviewed 10 people. While I was on the road speaking a few weeks ago, I asked 10 non-profit professionals what has been a highlight moment from their career. We are often so quiet and hold back from telling our own stories, but that's how we connect with each other, right With colleagues, donors, board members, volunteers, our friends. It's always around stories, so be prepared to be blown away by these career highlight moments, where most have never been shared. Go connect with these individuals, tell them they did an amazing job and go out there and tell your story. Go beyond podcast, share them on LinkedIn. If you are a fan of the show of missions to movements, please join me in celebrating 100 episodes by leaving a review at ratethispodcastcom. That's ratethispodcastcom, and thank you, thank you, thank you. I would really appreciate that. And now, without further ado, get ready to be wowed and meet some pretty incredible non-profit professionals from all around the US.

Speaker 2: 4:59

Kylie Carly from NuffCure. We are fully remote as of July, but I am based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Awesome amazing.

Speaker 1: 5:09

Thank you for being here. Yeah, what is a highlight moment from your career?

Speaker 2: 5:14

Well, a highlight moment from my time at NuffCure has been from this past February 2023. I won an anthem award for a digital campaign that I ran. But congratulations, Thank you. But the backstory to that in 2021,. So NuffCure serves people with rare kidney diseases and Alonza Morning, who's an MBA Hall of Famer from the 90s, he is affected with one of the specific diseases that we serve. So we got I got to interview him. I ended up being like almost a 45 minute interview, but we cut it down to a six minute video just to tell his story and really raise awareness. This type of kidney disease disproportionately affects black Americans, so it was just one big awareness campaign to get the word out really just to see your doctor and that there's a genetic component to this disease. So that was the campaign and it ended up winning gold at the anthem award. So that was the highlight. That's incredible. Congratulations.

Speaker 1: 6:17

Thank you for sharing your story. Yeah, of course.

Speaker 5: 6:25

Brenda Holland. I'm with international literacy and development, brenda so nice to meet you.

Speaker 1: 6:30

What is a highlight moment from your career?

Speaker 5: 6:34

So I would say that my career has been kind of a journey, and so to tell the highlight is going to be just take a few minutes. I lived and worked in West Africa for 12 years and I experienced a lot of learning. Language was a huge highlight of my career two languages actually but that helped me to actually understand the people that we worked with much better, because I could understand them through their language and their culture. Out of that, I moved back to the US about 15 years ago now and ended up getting into the position I am now as executive director of this international humanitarian organization, and the highlight is just getting to see people that I lived among and worked among coming out of poverty and so this is an amazing highlight to get to see the things that we're doing in social ventures, doing some businesses mission and stuff like being able to bring people from living in poverty to being able to thrive through business and through farming, and so, yeah, it's exciting.

Speaker 1: 7:38

That's beautiful. That's a great highlight, Brenda. Thank you so much. Thank you Appreciate it.

Speaker 6: 7:48

Jenny Darlington person. And where do you work, Jenny Music?

Speaker 1: 7:51

of the Mountains, music of the Mountains. I'm intrigued, jenny. What is a highlight moment from your career?

Speaker 6: 7:58

Well, before I became the executive director at Music in the Mountains, I was an attorney, and one of the best things I got to do in that world was teach law school, and I became a professor when I was 30. And so that was a big achievement Wow, that's incredible.

Speaker 1: 8:13

I love that.

Speaker 6: 8:15

As executive director. I guess I can think of two things. One I jumped from attorney to executive directing. I didn't really know what I was doing and I wanted some training. So I applied for this 10 day program on the Essentials of Orchestra Management and it was at the Juilliard School in New York and I got accepted into the program and got to attend that program, which was amazing.

Speaker 1: 8:38

I am just like continuously blown away by your stories. Have you shared these?

Speaker 6: 8:42

No, not really, maybe a little bit, I mean, like in small groups.

Speaker 1: 8:45

Okay, we need to start talking about these stories. These are okay. Continue.

Speaker 6: 8:49

And then the third was last year. I applied for three different grants, two-year grants with the California Arts Council, and I got all three of them and I've, without any real experience again, I've been writing grants and getting a lot of the ones I've applied for, and so the executive director of another organization was putting on a symposium on the business of art and inviting me to speak at that conference because I've been successful with the grant writing, I was going to say what are your secrets? My secret is in law. You have to take the facts, take the law, apply them together. It's essentially what grant writing is is taking the directions and exactly what the grantor wants to know and showing them why your program or your organization fits every single. You're just checking all the boxes. It's very technical.

Speaker 1: 9:38

I love it. Jenny, thank you so much for sharing your highlight moments. All three of those are awesome. You're welcome. Thanks for having me. Have I had a brainstorm slump where you just need somewhere to go for new ideas. Now, yes, this podcast is for sure one, but I wanted to introduce you to EverTrue Studios. It's basically like Netflix but for fundraisers. Their platform offers free on-demand documentaries, series and over 250 podcast episodes tailored for advancement professionals, like Ray's and Talking Shop. You can subscribe at evertruecom backslash studios to start binging and you can click the link in the show nose. Again, that's evertruecom backslash studios. And since you're a podcast fan, I just wanted to highlight you can go on Spotify or Apple to find these shows right now. Ray's podcast, hosted by the EverTrue CEO, who's really talking about the most exciting things and fundraising from a completely different angle. That is what the Ray's podcast is all about. And Talking Shop is hosted by David Lively. He is the Senior Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations and Development and Campaign Manager at Northwestern University. And Aaron Moran, director of Commercial Enablement at EverTrue and the former Associate VP and Chief of Staff at DePaul University. So, basically, what happens when an advancement operations nerd and a big ideas major gift guys sit down to chat? They talk shop. So Ray's podcast and Talking Shop go, check those out, go ahead and you can visit all of these documentaries and content at evertruecom backslash studios. Now back to the show.

Speaker 7: 11:17

My name is Kayla Friend and I'm with Hire Heroes USA.

Speaker 1: 11:21

Oh I, know, hire Heroes USA. Yes, yes, I love that. That's amazing. Okay, wow, this is amazing. I think so. What is a highlight?

Speaker 7: 11:31

moment from your career. So I joined the organization a little over a year ago, and that followed six years of municipal government, and in high school I always knew that I didn't want to work for the government. Nothing against the government. I just don't do well with bureaucracy, and that is nature of the game. So when I was able to switch over to working in the nonprofit sphere with a client base that I am very, very passionate about our military members, veterans and their spouses it was just like a dream come true, and so the entire year has been my highlight moment. It's been the best year professionally of my entire life thus far. I feel like I get to work with incredible people. I get to help make a difference in incredible people's lives and serve those who have served. So it's just been the best year of my life professionally. That's incredible.

Speaker 1: 12:15

Congratulations. I can like see it on your face that it makes you emotional and excited about the work that you do, because that's all we want, right, our dream job to be passionate about what we're spending so much of our time doing. Congratulations, thank you.

Speaker 7: 12:27

Thank you for this opportunity. Yeah, thank you for sharing your story.

Speaker 3: 12:35

My name is Michelle and I'm with the Cornucopia Institute.

Speaker 1: 12:39

Welcome, michelle. So nice to meet you, michelle. What is a beautiful highlight moment from?

Speaker 3: 12:43

your career. So early in my career I was living in New York City, working for a personal finance magazine and I was assigned a story that launched my career. Oh, okay, please continue. So in the days after September 11th, there was an impressive amount of money like a staggering amount of money pouring into funds that were set up to help the families and help the first responders, and I worked with a team of reporters to investigate what was happening with that money and to see if it was being spent in a way that really aligned with people's expectations, and so the story for me was kind of bittersweet, because the only reason I got that story and I got that opportunity was because my mentor and dear friend was dying of breast cancer and she really lobbied for me as a mentor and she opened a lot of doors for me and went to the editor and said that I should be the one to write the story, and I am forever grateful to her for that opportunity, and I think for me it is a reminder to never underestimate the impact that you have on someone's career and to take the time to help the people who are just starting out. Absolutely, I love that, Thank you so much for sharing.

Speaker 4: 14:14

I am Erin Eagle Key. I am CEO of Calm Waters, Oklahoma City's only grief center. Oh, what a beautiful name for an organization. Thank you.

Speaker 1: 14:20

Do you partner with the calm app? No, but we should.

Speaker 4: 14:25

You should. I know I should personally use the calm app. What is a?

Speaker 1: 14:30

beautiful highlight moment from your career.

Speaker 4: 14:35

Well, I have so many, but one that has always stood out to me as a moment when another female CEO took a chance on me when I was a really young individual striving to make a difference in this world. I was 25 years old, I had made the transition to nonprofit work my background is PR and advertising this sounds familiar, yes, and I thought I was going to rise the corporate ladder and do that whole gig and had a light bulb moment when I was struggling with infertility and had lost several babies to miscarriage, that I needed to do something more impactful in my world and in my life. So I made this transition to an international nonprofit very young, slightly naive, still very early on in my career, and they had just hired their first female CEO. She was very bold and thought big and decided that the organization needed a separate marketing communications department. They needed a VP for this position. Well, 25 years old, not a lot of experience, but I thought I'm just going to go for it, because I never want to ask myself the question what if? And I did. They did a national search, flew people in from around the United States, conducted thorough interviews of me and the other candidates eventually called me in HR called me in and I'm expecting the air. Thank you so much for your time. We decided to move on. They said, aaron, of all the candidates, you stood out among the rest and I was blown away. Part of the reason I was blown away was because I was eight months pregnant with my firstborn son, the little boy that I had prayed for for seven years. And the CEO at the time pulled me in and she said, aaron, there's something special in you and even though you're going on maternity leave soon, we need you. I have never forgotten that and I have carried that principle forward in my leadership and have poured into the lives of other young women and believed in them when they didn't even believe in themselves.

Speaker 1: 16:37

Unbelievable. Thank you so much for sharing your story. Thanks for letting me share my story. Yes, hey, I hope you are enjoying this episode. I wanted to give you a quick announcement. The next round of my monthly giving mastermind will start in February. Previously it was mid-January, but as I'm going through 2024 planning, I really want to give us all time to get settled into the new year. So the monthly giving mastermind will start in February for five organizations max. So if building a monthly donor program has been on your to-do list that it keeps getting pushed back due to limited time or resources, this is for you. By April you will have a program that is ready to go live. So let's make it happen together. You can head to positiveequationcom backslash mastermind to learn all about it, to apply, to view more details and to view our work with featured alumni of the program. Again, that's positiveequationcom backslash mastermind.

Speaker 8: 17:40

I am Megan Quickle. I'm the executive director of Brook and Air Neighbors.

Speaker 1: 17:44

So nice to meet you. Nice to meet you and Megan. What is a highlight moment from your career thus far?

Speaker 8: 17:49

So I have got two but they kind of pivot into each other. So I was the first female and youngest safety director at the largest healthcare center in Tulsa, oklahoma, and that was huge for me. Thinking that moment of can I do this, am I capable of that imposter syndrome. But living through that experience of three and a half years and then moving into an executive director role into a nonprofit and that was the other moment of this is where I want to be, this is where I need to be but being able to pivot into that has been those moments of oh my goodness, I'm here.

Speaker 1: 18:21

Yes, oh my gosh, there are so many things that you can share. Yeah, have you shared those stories before? I've broken down like I'm working on this.

Speaker 8: 18:28

So I'm definitely working on those stories and living through some of the things that I've lived through. I love to share that my very first day as an executive director was March 17th 2020. And that was that was a great birthday. Well, that's a great birthday.

Speaker 1: 18:41

It's a great birthday not in 2020.

Speaker 8: 18:44

But that was also the day Oklahoma shut down as a state. And so that moment of being able to look at my organization that I had just been given my dream job, but also going, oh my gosh, the world looks so different but also being able to say I never saw the organization before. I only get to see it how it is currently.

Speaker 1: 19:05

That's awesome, yeah, beautiful, thank you so much. Absolutely.

Speaker 9: 19:13

My name is Kana and Kana, where do you work? I work for Upward Transitions in Oklahoma City.

Speaker 1: 19:19

Beautiful. Thank you so much for being here and sharing your story. Thank you for having me with us what has been a highlight moment from your career.

Speaker 9: 19:27

One of the highlight moments from my career was Actually it's interesting, I can say my earlier part of my career was getting to go to a meeting with Steven Spielberg, working for McKinsey and Company in Los Angeles, when he kicked everybody out because they were overdressed, and I learned that sometimes the things that we think matter don't when it comes to our clients, and that has stuck with me. The main thing I took away from that, though, is that no matter how exciting a position is or feels, it doesn't necessarily make us happy. It doesn't necessarily make us feel important, and right now I think I'm in one of the highlights of my career finally working for a nonprofit that helps the homeless, which was a three-year goal that I accomplished in a week once I set. So I think I'm in a highlight moment right now that I'm finally where I think I'm supposed to be.

Speaker 1: 20:31

Congratulations. Thank you. That's amazing. You're a force. What a beautiful story. Thank you so much for sharing.

Speaker 9: 20:36

Oh, thank you for having me.

Speaker 10: 20:43

I'm Jen Boyd Martin. I'm with 108 Contemporary. We're a nonprofit craft gallery based in Tulsa.

Speaker 1: 20:50

Oklahoma. Oh, that sounds really fun. Okay, let's hear what is your highlight moment from your career.

Speaker 10: 20:57

Well, I kind of have to go back to make it make sense. But I actually started with my organization on the very first night that we ever opened as an intern and just about two years ago I became the executive director. And that was kind of my big, huge moment. And I definitely had the imposter syndrome like no, I'm not ready for this. And everyone was like you're the perfect one, you've been here from the beginning, like it's got to be you, and I was like okay, I'm going to do it. And I just kind of loved growing with the organization from the very beginning and kind of seeing all the iterations of what we've done and all of our programs and all the impact that we've had, you know, building over time. I think that's really been the greatest part of being there for now 10 years, wow yeah, and now leading the ship.

Speaker 1: 21:55

That's awesome. Yeah, thank you so much for sharing your story, yeah, of course.

Speaker 11: 22:05

I'm Victoria M Patton and I'm an author and I'm on the board of Parents Helping Parents.

Speaker 1: 22:10

Oh beautiful. I'm a parent and parents definitely need lots of other help from other parents. Thank you so much for being here, victoria. What is a highlight from your career?

Speaker 11: 22:19

Well, my career is I'm a thriller author, totally separate from my non-cool. So my I'm an independent author and I worked really hard in one year to make enough as in sales to join novelist Inc. That was my goal at the time and I worked really hard to get there, that's so cool.

Speaker 1: 22:38

Wait, what are a couple titles of your books.

Speaker 11: 22:40

I have a Damien Kane series, so Innocence Taken. There's a Six Out in that series. And then I write a Paranormal Thriller. That's the Derek Reed. There's three books out in that. The Box is the first one in that.

Speaker 1: 22:51

Congratulations so cool. Thank you so much for sharing your story. Absolutely, Can you tell. I love talking. All things digital To make this show better. I'd be so grateful for your feedback. Leave a review, take a screenshot of this episode, share it on Instagram stories and tag positive equation with one E so I can reshare and connect with you.