This year, I've had the honor of mentoring a LEAD group of four fellows in this year's New Leaders Council NYC cohort. This morning, I was SO PROUD as I watched them all brilliantly deliver their Capstone Presentations at NLC Institute. My fellows (yes, I'm claiming them) spoke with boldness and passion, with intelligence and precision, with compassion and vision. In a word, they were persuasive. Here's a quick overview of their presentations today:
? G Clay Miller delivered a passionate appeal to take action to close the digital divide in Brooklyn. G's presentation ended with a stirring call to action. (I've never seen an entire room start cheering at the call-to-action before. His was that good.)
? Sharice Richards delivered an unconventional capstone presentation that drew upon her experience as an educator. Sharice shared her vision, which will come to pass very soon, for starting her?own?educational consultancy.
? Casey Sabella shared how her life's journey has led her to develop a program for getting youth involved in organizing and keeping them engaged across multiple election cycles.
? Louis Paniccioli laid out his vision for founding a nonprofit led by and in support of people with disabilities.
In addition to the?sessions at institute, my group also?met separately to get more individualized coaching.?In our small group sessions, we worked through some of the practicalities of taking the seed of an idea and developing it into something that's alive and bearing fruit in the world. Our small group also benefitted greatly from the contributions of two additional guest coaches:
? Stephanie M. led our group through an outstanding training on fundraising. Stephanie also did some role-play with individualized feedback with the fellows to help them get more comfortable making a hard ask during call time. (Stephanie's training was literally one of the best I've ever been a part of. Figuratively? No. Literally, one of the best.?This?was the training I wish I had 20 years ago.)
? and Sara Thompson, PhD, a.k.a. That Presentation Coach, coached the fellows on presentation skills and speaking with authenticity. Watching the capstones today, I saw firsthand how the fellows incorporated Sara's feedback into their presentations, and the before-and-after was remarkable.
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And finally, THANK YOU to NLC NYC Alumni and Mentor Chair Nick B. for making all of this possible! What a day today!
