Living the dream...

It's 9.30am and I am on a plane to Malaysia having just returned from a week in America and a week in the UK. I am pretty tired and have loads of work to catch up on but I am still loving the job!

It's two years since I first came to Asia and I can't even begin to describe the adventures I have had. Earlier this year we ran a challenge for some of our clients to climb Mount Kinabalu and then deliver a community project for 90 Orphans in Borneo. It was an amazing experience and we left the project with a real sense of 'team' and emails have been flying about between us all ever since.



I spent three weeks in March on a leadership programme in India that was part of a Commonwealth Study Tour Experience. 220 delegates from the Commonwealth countries were selected to take part in research project that looked at the future growth of India and how to make it more inclusive in terms of reducing the poverty gap.

It was a personal development opportunity for me, although relevant to the development of Impact's proposition and I found myself in unfamiliar, scary and challenging situations. In my group of 15 there were people from Nigeria, Mauritius, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Malaysia and India, which was an experience in itself!

 

We met and interviewed government officials, leaders from top corporates and spent time with NGO's where we sat and spoke to kids suffering from HIV or abuse. We argued, agreed, collaborated, shared stories, argued some more and finally had to present our findings together to the Princess Royal, Indian Ministers and a conference of very important people (!) which included the press and also a live TV feed for India.

The experience was life changing for some but for me it confirmed that I am with the right company doing the right things, the feedback I had from my peers when I told them about Impact and my story was fantastic.

It feels so motivating that I am with an organisation as exciting as Impact where our profitability relies on programmes that actually give back and 'do good' in the world. Working for Impact has made me realise what is important to me - that my values are aligned with the organisation and that I am encouraged to seek ways to develop my role so I can further live those values!