Check Granting Ceremony

The meeting with the various presenters went very well. I learned how to deal with the various personalities professionally. I work with professionals everyday but this was a little bit different. There was a mix of staff and volunteers. A lot of the volunteers were either late or at point seemed to not care. It was pretty amazing to see how Imani was able to get their attention and keep such a warm and welcoming personality.

I asked her after our meeting about this. She told me that it was pretty much the same as how I usually interact with people just that in a non-profit, you might have to extend you hand a little bit more. People like to be praised more about their work since volunteers don't get paid. She advised me to make sure everyone is comfortable and that they are appreciated. Without them, a lot of the great things that SF Pride does for the community would not happen.

I used the tools that she showed me during the meeting when it was my turn to deal with the volunteers who were there to help with the event. There were a lot of faces I knew already but a ton more that I didn't. It was nice to interact with them. As the night went on, it felt like I had built a team. We worked hard and after the ceremony was over, we went for drinks. It's so refreshing to see so many people so happy after volunteering.