DAY 12: Why I’m trading SnapChat accounts with Kristy Gillentine || #StrubSnapSwaps

From Feb. 27 to April 16, Chris Strub will trade his Snapchat account with 50 different Snapchatters from around the globe. Add ChrisStrub on SnapChat to meet them all. During the 50 days, a portion of the proceeds from sales of Chris’s book will go to the nonprofits Chris visited during the #TeamStrub 50-state, 100-day journey. See the full list of NPOs that Chris visited here. On March 9, the nonprofit beneficiary will be The Boys & Girls Club of Austin.

Kris Gillentine is the perfect example of why it’s so important to keep your social eyes and ears open.

When I wrapped up my 50-state, 100-day quest last summer, I knew I’d built a really terrific group of friends. With incredible people like Joe Wilson, Herbie Merrin, PuertoRuvian, Santos, Peacelovedove, Nikki Fresh, Tiffy Diamond, Geoff Golberg, Cosmosherry, Mare331 and so many more supporting and sending kindness, I felt like the luckiest man alive. (Thank YOU, Meerkat family!)

Sometimes on social media, you can reach what you believe to be a saturation point: “oh, everyone knows what I’m about already, I don’t need to keep going.” Surely, businesses feel the same way I did sometimes, especially if you’re speaking over and over again to the same audience (say, that really engaged 2% of your Facebook page audience who actually sees your posts).

Instead of wrapping up my story and tucking it away, I chose to keep going. I speak about it on Blab. I Periscope about it. Obviously, I Snapchat about it. (There are countless Medium posts about the importance of staying bleeding-edge; I won’t take this there today.)

And by continuing to tell my story, over and over — eventually, it reaches the right person’s ears.

To me, that person is Kris Gillentine.

Ever since she heard my story, no one has been a more vocal or impassioned advocate. Since we first met — and I don’t even recall which platform that first interaction would’ve been on? — Kris has been an extraordinarily supportive friend.

Her kindness is consistent and omnipresent, and not just digitally. A week after I posted my mailing address on Snapchat, I opened my mailbox to find a bright green envelope with fancy scripted handwriting; inside, an adorable Valentine’s Day card signed by none other than Kris.

She’s gone out of her way to make mention of me and my story in and around Houston, and has championed the #StrubSnapSwaps project each day, while interacting with the people I’m trying to introduce to the world.

On top of all of that, she might actually have been the first person to not only buy my book but read it all the way through … and posted a glowing recommendation on Amazon about it.

So when it came time for me to draw up a project like this, there was no hesitation in my mind that I wanted Kris Gillentine to represent the great state of Texas.

Since meeting Kris digitally, and I hate speaking in cliches like this, she has ‘added value’ in a multitude of ways. She is extraordinarily kind and supportive, and the content she produces on her Snapchat stories is worth your time every single day.

In fact, her “Ask Nana Anything” might be the best single use of Snapchat I’ve seen all year. Seriously, how ridiculously fantastic is this?

And so, Medium readers, take this particular post as a reminder to keep your eyes and ears open, because you never know when you are going to come across a spectacular soul like Kris Gillentine.

Let me take that one step further. Here’s a spectacular soul, and her name is Kris Gillentine. Go out of your way to befriend her, chat with her, get to know her, and if you’re a very savvy businessperson, work with her. There were a few people I met during my trip whose wisdom, heart and drive are outweighing their current roles — headhunters, I’ll drop these names and let you do the research: Andrew Bartolotta; Tyler Moles; Nicole Burdick; Jack Styczynski (you’re welcome)— and very few people I’ve met on Snapchat have impressed me more than Kris Gillentine.

(BTW, in all seriousness, Andrew Bartolotta is going to be absolutely huge someday. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!)

It will be an honor and a pleasure to swap accounts with the brilliant Kris Gillentine. Don’t miss it.