I undertook my Leadership in Action project in Mexico City, at makesense. My mission was to recruit volunteers and deliver an intervention at one of the local, sustainability-focused start-ups. I got assigned to Sommos, a social enterprise promoting circular economy with on-demand groceries deliveries. They wanted to increase sales and my job was to help them get new clients. 

One of the most exciting discoveries I made during the program was actually getting to know my project partner Sofya. She is a very sweet and kind soul and was extremely accommodating towards my hectic schedule, which made me better understand which qualities I look for in collaborators. 

Some of the main challenges we faced was getting to grips with the red tape surrounding organizing the Sustainability Festival: which we decided would be the most fun way to spread the word about Sommos. To overcome the challenges Sofya and I developed a detailed plan of action; we used design thinking and other strategies taught to us by the makesense team. We employed an iterative process which consisted of finding a new solution, testing it and then improving it as new feedback kept coming in. And new feedback was coming in at all times. Whether it was feedback in the form of not enough volunteers signing up on our pages or not enough engagement with our Eventbrite event, we adapted. The whole experience developed my resilience and adaptability.

Once we managed to secure our volunteers for the organization of the festival we decided to divide them into groups based on their interests and skills. We created 3 main groups of volunteers: the logistics team, the social media team and the team responsible for public engagement. We divided all the volunteers equally which was a good call as only about half of them remained active throughout the duration of the program. To ensure the engagement did not drop even further we organized zoom live meetings every two to three days, checked in with everyone on whatsapp daily, sent daily emails and, perhaps most importantly, continuously asked for feedback and for the volunteers to come forward and share their ideas with us. The whole experience made me develop my communication, project management and leadership skills alongside giving me a great opportunity to practice my Spanish skills. Speaking Spanish at the beginning of the program proved a little bit challenging but as time went on I became more and more comfortable in speaking the language fluently with the locals. The blend of online and offline meetings also really accelerated my progress. All the volunteers who came to our offices in person were extremely helpful and happy to speak and practice Spanish with Sofya and me.

At the end of the program, our organization, Sommos, informed us that they have broken their sales record since their inception over 3 years ago. It was an extremely proud moment for both Sofya and I, knowing that our help has been appreciated. Overall I found the experience very enlightening both in terms of increasing my cultural sensitivity and awareness and developing my leadership skills and I feel grateful to have had this opportunity.