Thank you, Mohamed Massaquoi.

When I stepped away from my role last year, I made it a priority to have conversations with people I thought were doing really special, impactful and purpose-driven work. I wanted to learn more from them on how they followed their passions, how they managed obstacles and detours along the way, and how they found and maintained energy to keep going.?

Not surprisingly, when I reached out to many of these individuals... crickets. I didn’t hear back from most and then one day in November, I heard back from a really special individual.

In early November I saw Mohamed Massaquoi had been awarded UGA’s Arch Award (image in this article), which is an award for former student-athletes making an impact in business after college. I had never met Mohamed before and only knew him as the talented wide receiver for The University of Georgia. Looking at his LinkedIn profile, his path looked unique. Going from the NFL to corporate finance to now running his own consulting firm, Vessol. His focus on helping teams work better together through leadership alignment, collaboration and listening resonated with me.

I took a chance and sent him a LinkedIn message with an offer for a conversation and a coffee. Within the same day, he wrote back and we made a plan to connect. Since that coffee chat, we’ve met a few more times and he’s not only connected me to others that he believed could help me on my journey, but he's also continued to follow up, offer advice and become a friend and mentor.

In that time, I’ve learned so much about him and his own personal and professional journey. His successful football career and how an injury led him to take a big step back, find his energy and where he wanted to go in life. The physical, mental and emotional challenges along the way, and the best part of it, is how he continues to grow and move forward every day, helping others. Here’s a video of him sharing more about the accident that set him on a new course of discovery and true purpose.?

I can’t say enough how grateful I am that he responded that day and took me up on that coffee. Thank you, Mohamed "Mo" Massaquoi !