Happy Friday everyone! Since you got to know myself and Besa a little bit better in my first post, I figured it was about time to share what I’ve been working on so far!

In just 14 work days I have attended so many meetings both internally and externally and have been able to contribute so much to the team. I’m going to share with you two specific experiences I’ve had along with an update on my work!

Kaleidoscope

Photo Credit: NBC4

One of the first out of office experiences I had was when I had the opportunity to tag along to Kaleidoscope Youth Center to watch the filming of one of our Summer of Giving segments with NBC4. NBC4 is featuring a different Columbus nonprofit every month this summer along with a Besa volunteer project and running 3 different stories to tell the touching and important stories of giving from our community. I had not heard of Kaleidoscope before being invited to attend that week, and once I was there I could instantly tell how incredibly important they are to our community. I really encourage you to read more about Kaleidoscope and the LGBTQ+ Youth services they offer to individuals and families.

During the filming, I got to hear from a member of the center, Mike, and his Mother. They expressed how important Kaleidoscope has been to their family since Mike came out as a trans-male 3 years prior. There was not a person in the room that did not tear up hearing how much love and support they share. You can watch their NBC4 segment here.

Lextant: The Human Experience Firm

Lately, I’ve been saying that if I had two of myself, one of us would have had the foresight to study design. I do not study design, but I am fascinated by it, and I have recently been learning much more about human-centered design and systems thinking models. Needless to say, when I saw a research synthesis workshop with a design firm on the calendar, I had to ask if I could attend.

Besa had been in a long-term qualitative research process with Lextant and only had two days of synthesis left to close out the process. I was able to join this process of sorting 100s of sticky-notes containing qualitative data points along with members of our team and board. We sorted the data into themes that would later be integrated into a one-page model that we can use for marketing, customer acquisition, and to prove our value when moving toward expansion.

It challenged us to think dynamically, step outside our comfort zone, and collaborate in ways most of us have not before. Thankfully, I have access to our raw data set and I get to be a part of the continuing process on our way to final models and findings.

So what have you… done?

So many things. I appreciate everyone at Besa for being patient with my eagerness in the first few weeks. I had a slower start than I had anticipated, but by day 5 I had finished writing a draft of Besa’s employee handbook. Since then I have migrated some data, worked on what our ideal software client-lifecycle should look like, started a project to analyze data that we excluded in our initial process, drafted an internal timeline for our Adopt-a-Senior program, organized a retrospective of the Adopt-a-Senior 2017 project (analyzing what went well and what didn’t from past notes), and brainstormed a many more ideas for what other gaps may need filled.

I don’t mean to make this sound like I am crafting my resume bullets as I go, I am just so excited to be working on such a diverse set of projects.

If you don’t have plans for the weekend, you should definitely check out the Columbus Arts Festival downtown! (The closed streets have made getting to the office an adventure)

Thanks again for reading – look for my post next week!

Emily