Today I shadowed Susan Loken, the Marathon Program Director at Chances for Children. I came into the office at noon. She was making schedules and catching up on emails before heading out to give a presentation at UBS in an attempt to recruit more runners for the PF Chang's Rock n' Roll Marathon under Team Chances. Before we could go to the meeting we needed to gather all of our materials and make necessary copies. We headed out together to 4800 N. Scottsdale Road with all of what we needed to give a lengthy and informative presention. And her presentation was awesome and I am so lucky that I got to sit in on it! She even let me participate and answer questions that some of them had. I was able to give my take on the organization and why I was so passionate about helping children. I think this proved to be an asset to the presentation because it added some element of the relatability factor. The office consiststed of people who ran last year and were eager to run again this year. Also in the meeting were newbies who had never before considered a marathon. Susan was so great at her tactics of presenting the idea. I was impressed by her level of confidence in presenting the material in the way that she did. She didn't sound rehearsed at all. Rather, she sounded very knowledgable, comfortable and approachable. The group was asking substantial and relevant questions about the fundraising components, the benefits for the business, tax write offs--you name it and Susan had the answer for it. It was neat to see her in action otuside of the office. As a Marathon Program director, she has to wear several "hats" throughout her day; office manager, computer whiz, information processer, humanitarian, printing press, marketing squad and today, public speaker (which is what I love!) After the meeting had ended, I quickly realized that her "job" wasn't done yet. People who were unable to make the 1:25 meeting were catching her before we left the office and asking her several questions about Chances for Children and how they can be involved and if they can race this year with zero experience, etc etc etc. As you can imagine, after already giving out this information extensively that it may seem a bit tedious to answer the same questions over and over again with new people. Instead, Susan championed this with such an upbeat attitude and her personality was just refreshing. It was very clear to me today that this was a woman who is sincerely passionate about helping people get healther and change the lives of children. I learned the importance of patience yes, but even more so about being in love with what you do because it will reflect in your work ethic and in your attitude. She also told me today that life is a choice and that she chooses, everyday, to be happy. This makes her job that much more rewarding every morning when she wakes up and heads to the office. We didnt end up leaving until shortly after 3pm. Our drive back up was informative. She continued to give me life lessons. She is a full time mom on top of everything else she does so it was interesting to get to know that side of her. We really can do it all! Mind over matter.
We then had to drive over to Office Max and get some ink for the printer. After that we came back to the office and we are here now. She is just signing out now by inputing information for our newest racers who signed up today (which it the last thing she does everyday since it's quite a lengthy process) and she will be ready to come back tomorrow for another meeting for Team Sole Sisters. :)
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