Friend and Former Under Armour Colleague, Jami Crist, Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist and Philanthropist, Natasha Hastings, Ladder Founder and Brand Strategist, Michelle Douglas (Me!), at the Inaugural Natasha Hastings Foundation Tea Time Gala.
While the official one-year anniversary of Ladder being in business won’t be celebrated until early 2019, this week marks one year since I left my job and decided to pursue my own passion and make Ladder a full-time thing. If you are wondering how this is relevant to the post title and image, keep reading!
Almost exactly one year later I find myself having just attended a gala for the foundation of a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist with a heart of gold, a foundation that I wrote the Mission, Vision, Values for, work I couldn’t be prouder of.
As someone who likes to overachieve and continuously explore, someone who replies to the “what were you born to do?” question with a list of responses versus one answer, I feel that it’s important to stop and share a moment of appreciation and self-recognition too.
Have you ever had a moment where you thought or said out loud “all of my work experience actually makes sense right now, it led to this!”…. I never saw this feeling coming and I feel so fortunate to have felt it. It came while I had the privilege of developing the mission, vision, values and brand pillars for The Natasha Hastings Foundation.
The reasons why my experience all made sense; I learned the importance of relationship management at all levels as a client lead at a fast-paced advertising agency, I discovered a love for athletically-focused non-profits and youth related programs while leading marketing for the second largest running club in the country, I was fortunate enough to fine-tune skills in developing core brand strategy work at several non-profit organizations along my way and I spent time working with professional athletes, defining their image outside of sport alone in brand management for one of the top three athletic brands in the world. Not to mention, The Natasha Hastings Foundation focuses on empowering girls through sport and teaching them to be self-confident women, a mission so similarly aligned with my own personal mission and cause.
I’m always honored to help organizations develop their brand mission, vision and values. It is often the most meaningful and defining work. I’m particularly grateful to have done this work, not only because of Natasha’s vision and desire to give back, or her recognition and appreciation of the opportunities she’s been given through sport, but also because it allowed me to have a moment of appreciation for the opportunities that a love of sport has provided me and my career.
If you’ve read this far, thank you and I ask only two more things:
1. Read more about The Natasha Hastings Foundation and the work here. And consider donating to empower girls to become women of confidence in sport and life and support Natasha as she sets a new pace for the roles of women mentors in sport.
2. Take a moment to think about the work you are doing! Does it relate to your own personal mission and cause, and if not, can you find ways to connect what you care about with the work you do?