How a Pepper Plant Created a Community
This past summer, my Aunt Karen gave me four pepper plants, a mint plant, and a cucumber plant. I don’t have a green thumb, but I thought, “Hey, why not see where it goes? Worst case, I lose the plants and have to continue to get my greens from the grocery store.” Long story short, […]
Inspiring The Future By Reflecting On The Past
Sometimes you need to look back on things to better prepare yourself for what’s on the horizon. For instance, back in 2016, my mentor gave me and everyone on our team a handful of marbles. We were to walk around the room and place a marble in front of someone else, each marble recognizing a […]
Creating Goals In Your Community
Growing up I always made goals throughout life. Some were more serious than others, however, they were still goals. For example, I always wanted to be better at school than my older brother. If you knew my brother, you would know that he is a genius. He was a straight-A student whereas I was not. […]
It’s Giving Tuesday!
What is a better way to spend your day than giving back to your community? There is none! Every year for the past decade I have been participating in GivingTuesday. For those of you who don’t know, back in 2012 GivingTuesday was created as an idea: “a day that encourages people to do good”. Ever […]
Design Our 2022 #FreeHugs Postcard!
Are you a creative person? Does your art dazzle, amaze, and inspire? Do you want the opportunity to have your original design travel across the world? We have an exciting opportunity for you! Here’s the rundown: Swift Kick loves free hugs, both virtual and in-person. We want to spread that love as far as it […]
Community Leadership Checklist
Getting ready to pack up and head to work can be stressful at times. I have forgotten my medicine, my laptop, important documents, a pen, MY COFFEE (big no-no) and several other things. If it wasn’t for my checklist I would probably forget my pants… Because of this, I decided to create a checklist for […]
Here’s Your Sign to Community Engagement
Last Monday, team Swift Kick had the amazing opportunity to learn American Sign Language (ASL) at our Q4 retreat! Tom, Jay, and Sami virtually met with two amazing humans – Matt and Martise. A little background: Matt and Martise met at Gallaudet University. Martise started signing to Matt, and Matt just nodded. He clearly did […]
How to Engage the Disengaged
I woke up excited today to head to a meeting with a group that I volunteer with. When I walked into the room, I noticed that every single person was either on their phone, had their chin resting on their hand in a bored position, or they were looking at the ceiling and avoiding eye […]
Creating a Community One Conference at a Time
The virtual room was packed with hungry minds. Even though we were all miles apart, you could feel the energy of the whole room buzzing. That’s why I love attending CMX conferences. They are filled with people who love building a Culture of Connection as much as I do… It is amazing how welcoming and […]
Scoring your way to #TeamHuman
It’s midnight and my phone rings. I’m confused when I see the number of somebody I have not spoken with in a long time. I answer, confused and half asleep, “Hello?” The response was in a distressed voice, “Sami, I broke my leg in a hockey game. I have no one. Is there any way […]