Building meaningful relationships.
MMBay volunteer leader Erin Nielsen is a Content Designer at Atlassian, and joined MMBay in 2019 as a volunteer Mentor. Since then: Erin has mentored a student through her high school journey, keeps in touch with her while she is at college, and herself has taken on roles at MMBay as a Junior Class Mentoring Lead and most recently as Co-Chief Community Officer (an executive volunteer role in our org). Reflecting on her experience, Erin shares how our organization inspired her growth and choice to lead:
“I think my experience is similar to that of many volunteers who come to MMBay: while we enjoy and feel intellectually stimulated by our jobs, we often also feel that there is a disconnect between our work and what it means to actually be a part of the communities we live so close to. MMBay is that opportunity for me to truly be with specific communities in the Bay Area, and to spend time with students and other volunteers who I might otherwise not get to build meaningful relationships with.
I joined the executive Steering team as Co-Chief Community Officer because when I was mentor and class lead, I was so inspired by the passion and dedication of the leaders in this org, and particularly by those who were leading in a volunteer capacity. It is so motivating to know that most people are giving their time freely to our shared cause, at the highest levels of leadership and commitment. I wanted to be someone who could inspire others in the way that others have inspired me.”