Being an UPTOGOOD Ambassador Brought me One Step Closer
UPTOGOOD.org connects the global community of do-gooders and go-getters to become dream-makers. Here’s what I’ve learned.
“Who wants to be working at their dream job?”
An enthusiastic guest speaker asked my high school Economics class. Everyone raised their hand.
“The key to getting your dream job is knowing the right people. And to know the right people you must be good at networking and making connections.”
These were the inspirational words I heard before deciding to sign up for a networking conference at USC. At this Skillify-sponsored conference I had the opportunity to meet and network with a woman named Mika Onishi, the co-founder of UPTOGOOD. She told me she was looking for summer interns to host their own social impact campaign and help build a strong and workable foundation for future ambassadors. I already had an idea for a campaign I wanted to do, but first had to get accepted as an intern. Soon after the conference, I emailed Mika explaining my interest in applying. She told me to send over my resume, and then she scheduled me for a phone interview the next day.
Two months later, as I am packing for college, I run across an old copy of my resume, pre-internship. I compare it with my new resume, one that is now filled with all the experience that UPTOGOOD has provided me. I am astounded.
The first project I did with UPTOGOOD was for the charity, Free Arts for Abused Children. The video campaign I made, called “Free Arts for Free Hearts.” Free Arts is a non-profit organization designed to help abused, neglected, or homeless children heal from the trauma they’ve experienced with therapeutic art forms such as painting, drawing, crafts, and acting.
With this one video, I had the opportunity to go to a Free Arts event and film the children playing, making crafts, interacting with loving adult volunteers, and learning how to work cohesively in a group setting with other children. I also interviewed the directors of Free Arts as well as some of the volunteers. To do all these things involved lots of planning. In addition to contacting Free Arts and working out filming and event details, I was also responsible for generating the questions for the interviews and editing the video in post-production. With the help of my friend, Tucker Welker, we were able to create an amazing video full of energetic children and adults. The video left its audience with a call-to-action, promoting people to share my campaign all over Facebook and Twitter and learn more about what this organization was all about.
Free Arts felt eternally blessed with this video and later sent an email blast of my campaign to all of their followers and uploaded its video to their website. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to support such an inspirational initiative with my efforts. With UPTOGOOD’s help, a deserving organization gained more followers and supporters for its cause.
UPTOGOOD has given all their ambassadors lots of great learning and growing opportunities. As a team of four ambassadors, we work on writing various blogs for the UPTOGOOD blog and curating our favorite social change videos that eventually become inspiring UPTOGOOD campaigns. I have personally grown so much as a writer and researcher. I learned the power of knowledge and have been able to generate many conversations on the topic with a much more informed mindset. One article I recently finished is called “How Technology has Become a Catalyst for Incredible Social and Technological Connection.” In this article I talk about the development of technology through the generations, some fun statistics, the benefits of technology on our society, and how to use technology and social media for good. If anyone has the opportunity to be involved with UPTOGOOD, they should take it and get as much out of it as possible.
I know how much GOOD this experience has already done in my life, and I hope you can see it through the great work it promotes each and every day. They have connected me to a global community of do-gooders and go-getters.
So if you are yearning to make a difference in your community, get online and make an UPTOGOOD account where you can create your own campaigns, post inspirational videos, donate to causes, and share others’ campaigns! You can also follow me on my UPTOGOOD profile. Most importantly, be the change you want to see in the world. Be UPTOGOOD.
HERE ARE YOUR CALLS TO ACTION!
Does being UPTOGOOD resonate? Here are some things you can do to become part of our community!
- APPLYit: Email jobs@UPTOGOOD.org with your resume if you are interested in joining us as an intern or ambassador.
- HOSTit: Create your UPTOGOOD profile here and create an impact campaign around your story today.
- SHAREit: Share this article or UPTOGOOD with good hearted people, activists and storytellers you know by tagging them with the hashtag #UPTOGOODspotted. Let them know you think they are up to GOOD and should be part of the community.
- FOLLOWit: We have Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and we’d love for you to join us! Together, let’s start the conversation for good everywhere.
