Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to k MET fourteen ninety am, ABC News Radio
and the Southern California Business Report with the Vett Walker,
a show dedicated to highlighting successful Southern California businesses and
the people behind them.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome and thank you for joining Southern California Business Report
on ABC News and Talks k ET fourteen ninety AM,
ninety eight point one FM and km ET TV. I'm
Vett Walker live blasting our signal from the center of
Southern California, serving a population of over twenty five million.
Get us crystal clear and on demand by downloading the
free live streaming app on Google Play and the Apple
(00:41):
App Store. As always a huge shout out to the
team Mitch, Bill and Sean I love you guys into
our special advisory committee that can be found at www
dot scbr talk dot com Forward Slash Advisory Committee. Click
on the link and learn about the remarkable leaders doing
the work. And as you know, I love highlighting leaders
(01:04):
that are dedicated to solutions, opportunities and success. And today
I'm absolutely thrilled to introduce Brianna Sherman, Global Expansion Chair
for Rotary's Epic Day of Service. She has been a
dedicated Rotarian since twenty twenty one, driven by her passion
for service and expanding the visibility of rotaries impact in
communities worldwide. Recognized as the Rotarian of the Year for
(01:28):
twenty twenty two twenty three in District fifty four to fifty,
she has played a pivotal role in rotary leadership at
both the club level, District and Zone twenty six twenty
seven through her service with the Epic Day of Service.
She has served her club as Secretary Service Chair for
two years and most recently as immediately past president for
(01:49):
the twenty twenty three twenty four Rotary Year. In addition,
she has been instrumental in Rotary's growth, serving as the
global Expansion Chair for the Epic Day of Service is
its inception in Colorado, contributing to the success of club
participation nationally and internationally. As a co founder of the
West Coast Epic Day of Service, Brianna has championed large
(02:12):
scale service initiatives, fostering collaboration and engagement among Rotarians, clubs
and communities to create lasting change. Her ability to align
vision and hope bring people together in a mission that
is infectious and creates forward progress for initiatives she helps
to champion. Brianna's professional background as an entrepreneur is rooted
(02:33):
in business development, growth and education. She successfully owned and
operated two corporations within the professional cosmetology industry, where she
made a significant impact as a stage educator and through
her own trade curriculum. Her expertise in mentoring and developing
professionals seamlessly aligns with her passion for Rotary, where she
(02:55):
continues to inspire and empower the next generation of leaders.
Remains committed to driving innovation, service and leadership within Rotary,
ensuring its legacy of impact continues for years to come.
Thank you so much for being with us today, Brianna, Thank.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
You for having me event. I really look forward to
our conversation.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
You know, Epic Day of Service through Rotary. The name
itself is just astounding, right, it's epic and I see
it's all in caps. What does that stand for?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Well, it's not specifically an acronym, but more so, we
want to make an epic movement with Rotary in the communities,
bringing communities together with Rotary and service and making a
difference all over the world globally. So we want to
be epic in our service.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I love it, and as we know, rotarians are epic.
I'm a proud rotarian myself since twenty fifteen, which is
why I love highlighting my fellow rotarians and their epic journeys,
their epic involvement, and their epic results. So let's talk
about your journey to becoming a rotarian first, because that's
one of the favorite parts of the journey is sharing
(04:04):
your why as to what pulled you into Rotary. A
service club that is international, that is over one hundred
years old, that has been credited with merely eradicating poliol
but two countries through their relentless vaccination efforts for polio.
(04:24):
Tell us what prompted you to join Rotary?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Well, when I sold my businesses in twenty nineteen and
my husband and I decided to make a big move.
We moved from California to Colorado, which is my home state.
I decided that I wanted to get involved in something
bigger and something different where I could get back to
the community into the world. And I was invited by
another local rotarian. I was at a happy hour and
was invited to check out a club and I had
(04:51):
the honor of being a charter member and helping charter
the newest club in district fifty four to fifty back
in twenty twenty one, and just really realized that, Wow,
I have found my place and my passion with specifically
my passion for service and serving the community and the world,
and Rotary gives me every opportunity to do that. And
then really following up with my passion for leadership.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Well, you know, it's quite a move to become a Rotarian,
but to become a charter member of a whole new club,
let's talk about that and what it takes to create
a whole new club in Rotary.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Sure, so I came in a little bit, probably about
midway amongst the group, and at the time, you needed
twenty members to charter a brand new club in a district.
And so we spent about a year year and a
half building that membership, probably about a year already operating
as a club. We were doing service projects and we
had to have a sponsor club. So we were sponsored
(05:46):
by the Denver Southeast Club here in Denver, which is
a large, very experienced club, and we had two specific
mentors that helped guide us into following the bylaws setting
up our charter doing all the things. So once we
hit twenty members, we submitted to District fifty four to
fifty that we were ready to charter as a club,
and so we did. We had to just like any
(06:07):
other club, we had to build a board of leadership,
find it out of those twenty brand new Rotarians or
brand new members, people that wanted to lead the club
and lead it into existence. And so that's kind of
the base of it is finding a really great sponsor
club that has mentors that are willing to lead you
into really success. And so we chartered in September of
(06:29):
twenty twenty one and are still currently the newest club
in District fifty four to fifty And with that said,
we actually got Club of the Year in twenty twenty two,
twenty twenty three as well. So and it was for
I think the recognition of the fact that our club
is very hands on service, which then ties into my
passion for epic day of service.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Right. And when you talk about those frameworks that exist,
the by laws, the structure of the board, basically it
boils down to fiduciary duty and a true commitment to
the communities that Rotary serves. Whether locally or on a
national stage, which I believe has had a great impact
obviously on the credibility of the goals of Rotary, its
(07:12):
members and the events that it holds. Tell us a
little bit about that. When you were learning about Rotary
and the fiduciary duty and the true impact that Rotarians
make throughout the world.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Well, and you know that that is probably one thing
that really helped me align to become a Rotarian. Is
one of the things I'm most proud of is how
Rotary International, at the international level, then the zone level,
district level, and club level handled donors' dollars. I think
we are so responsible with donors money and putting it
back into the community and not using it, you know,
for operational budgets. So it was really fascinating to learn.
(07:46):
I've been in leadership or like you said earlier, entrepreneurialship
and running businesses and whatever, but really diving deep into
a nonprofit organization that's as old as ours and how
much structure is built into the accountability and the fiduciary
duty to the people that participate in Rotary or donate
to Rotary was really interesting, and I think that's where
it really helped to have a great mentoring club that
(08:08):
really has it's a very successful club and has a
lot of history, and they were able to share with us,
you know, their bylaws and their charters and stuff like that,
where we could then adapt them to what we call
Rotary Reimagined is what we call our club. We are
a little we structured ourselves a little bit different outside
of traditional Rotary club, which has been really great for
(08:29):
us attracting young, you know, business professionals. But it is
really interesting when you get into the heart of Rotary
and really learn how much it offers and how much
history it has. The structure and like you said, the
fiduciary duty behind it is pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It really is, because in the landscape of fundraising and
giving back to the community, you know, keeping a strict
oversight over those donations and those moneys that come in
is very important and being held to the highest you know,
accountability is key. So let's switch gears back to the
epic day of service, because you became a member in
(09:06):
twenty twenty one, it's here twenty twenty five, four years later,
and throughout that time talk about the planning process, the stages,
the idea, that came to light where you know, you
and your fellow charter members of fifty three forty said,
you know, we want to do an epic day of service.
How does that even come to light?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
What's kind of interesting. It kind of started a little
bit east and a little bit west. So a gentleman
by the name of Pat mcgukin, who is part of
the sponsoring club Denver Southeast that helped sponsor my club
to charter, had this vision to do a day of
service and to have it be rotary clubs bringing the
community in and serving all over the world on one
(09:47):
epic day and making a difference. And when he started
doing some research, he found that on the East Coast
a day of service had started pretty successfully about a
year year and a half before by two district governor
in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and that was Joanne Alferry and
Jeff Krause. And basically that was during Shaker Madea's year
(10:07):
when he really challenged that he was the Rhetory International
President and he challenged his districts and his clubs to
get together and do a day of service. Let's get
back out in the community and make this forward facing
and remind people that we are a service organization. So
those two district governors took it very seriously, and as
Pat and myself and anybody else here on the West
(10:29):
Coast started to do more research, we decided that it
made sense for us to line and it kind of
meant went East meets West. So the first year that
we participated in Colorado was last year, which would have
been the third year for the East Coast, and now
this year that we just completed, which it's not totally
done yet, May seventeenth, East meets West zone twenty six,
(10:51):
twenty seven, which I'm sure we'll go into a little
bit later. We've really spread it through the West Coast
and grown it. If that gives you a little bit
of the.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Background, Yes, So what does it take? Talk about your
committee members, talk about the planning process, talk about the
logistics behind creating an event like this and dedicating May
seventeenth as the epic day of service.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Sure, so it will forever be well for now, forever
be the third Saturday in May. It's just the date
that worked that aligned. So this year it was May seventeenth,
and we have built a board of directors and we
have actually started our own five oh one C three
nonprofit because we do have a fundraising component to the
(11:35):
Epic Day of Service, which is handled exactly like donations
to Rotary International. The money's managed very similarly. But with
that said, we basically have created positions where we built
a global website which was launched this year. So the
global website now allows clubs all over the world to
register their projects, sign up their volunteers, get it out
(11:59):
into the communities, share their projects, invite the community to
come in and serve with them. So the global website
has really been a key tool to really spreading this
throughout the nation and now of course also internationally. Second
to that is just taking on the roles of finding
people like myself that are willing to go out at
the zone level, at the district level, meet with leadership
(12:21):
in other areas and get them to I don't want
to use this term negatively, but to buy into the
benefits of what happens when Rotarians all go out on
one day and serve all over the world within their communities,
inviting their communities in and the benefit of Rotary and
the communities through that with positive pr and membership and
(12:41):
engagement of your members that maybe haven't been that engaged.
So we have found that not only has it done that,
it has also brought clubs and districts together where we're
now seeing them serve at a higher level in a
bigger picture, and then continuing to serve together all year long.
So it's taken quite a bit. It's been a labor force.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
It sounds like, you know, all of these programs are
a labor of love, especially since it's all volunteer run, right.
Everybody is a volunteer. No one gets paid to coordinate
or do any of these things, but they apply their
expertise and their resources to benefit their communities, both locally
(13:19):
and abroad. And there is no project I can't imagine
of a project that Rotary doesn't cover. I mean, if
your mind can conceive a project of some need within
your community, then I'm sure it exists somewhere around the world.
So with that said, Brian to talk about some of
the projects that you saw posted on the global website
for this epic day of service.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Yes, we've seen everything from blood drives to supporting children's
development centers, canal cleanups up in here in the foothills
a whole I think it was four or five clubs
banded together and cleaned up a whole community where the
county came in supported them. It was promoted on the news.
(14:04):
We have seen let's see food banks where they have
provided opportunities that's outside the food banks normal realm project
here where they're sending medical supplies overseas, crutches for Africa.
We had a whole community of rotary clubs do solar
panels for Ukraine where they decorated them and their battery
(14:28):
operated solar panels. No, that doesn't make any sense, they're
solar operated solar panels, but they shipped them to Ukraine
and wrote messages on them. So they brought the youth
community in where they decorated the back of the solar panels.
We have seen it all. We've seen whole senior centers rehabbed.
Anything that you can imagine rotarians are coming together and
(14:50):
bringing the community in to do that is wonderful.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
So what was the feedback that you got from this
event that occurred on May seventeenth, Because it's still pretty fresh,
but I can imagine it was an epic day of service.
And you mentioned East meets West zones twenty six and
twenty seven. What does that look like and how many
clubs do those zones cover?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
So we haven't finalized the numbers quite yet. They're still
coming in. So while we talk about the epic day
of service and we would love if everybody would serve
on one day, we realized that doesn't meet every club's needs.
So we encourage clubs to still participate within a small
window outside of the day, in a small on either side.
So we still have active projects registered on the website
(15:33):
that are still happening. But basically East meats West is
last year in the northeast, they had great success again
that was their third year. We had about twenty one
districts and about twelve hundred clubs that participated this year
in Zone twenty six twenty seven For people that don't understand,
that's basically Colorado north all the way into Canada south
(15:55):
all the way to Hawaii west, and we had about
another there. Let's see, we added eighteen states this year,
I believe it was, and so we've really grown tremendously.
If you go to the global website and you look
at the West Coast map, you'll see the red dots
all throughout the West Coast, which didn't exist last year
(16:16):
except just in Colorado, and that was kind of my
role this year was to really bring it to the
West and see how we could tie it together. And
now our goal is to fill in the middle and
get even more countries involved. We're in six countries this
year as well, which was very exciting.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Right, which explains why you're here with us today. This
is Southern California Business Report, but your effort covered this
entire region which includes southern California to Colorado, which I
absolutely love Colorado. Is it patch chili season yet?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yes? It is just about you can find them about everywhere.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Perfect. Yes, it's wonderful. So with that said, talk about
the overarching goals of Rotary International through these service projects
and these robust efforts to really get out into the
community and gain visibility and I don't want to say recognition,
(17:09):
but just awareness of what Rotarians do within their community.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Well, and you hit it right there. So we have
realized over the four years that there are four major
areas that this really highlights and targets and for Rotary
specific you know, membership, re engagement, retention, and even potentially recruitment.
When we have the community come serve alongside us, shoulder
to shoulder, and they see what we actually do in
the community. It creates a new excitement and a new
(17:36):
buzz and people are like, oh wait, maybe I'm interested
in joining a rotary club. Then we have found that
the pr from it when you take a community of people,
whatever that community is, and say hey, we're all going
to stand up on one day, on one day and
we're going to show up for our communities globally worldwide.
That's a news story, and that's a feel good news story.
And what a great way to remind the community that hey,
(17:59):
we're rotarians. We don't just give donations or write scholarships
or help nonprofits through financial contributions. We are actually serving
hands on in this community and your community and every community.
And then lastly, you know, through the fundraising, it helps
us and that's an optional component, but it helps clubs
found fund at their foundations so they can do service
(18:21):
projects all year long, so we can continue to serve
the community at a high level. And again, like you said,
remind the world that we're one point three million rotarians worldwide.
We have sixty thousand clubs. I think it has thirty
six thousand clubs worldwide and we're in almost every single country,
and I think people forget that we are everywhere and
(18:42):
we're here to be a part of the community and.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
To serve it absolutely. And so with that said, brand
that share how your previous roles as a business owner
and educator and in the professional cosmetology industry prepare you
for leadership within Rotary.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
It's an interesting segue. I think, you know, as an
entrepreneur and owning businesses where I had my own employees
and kind of had to lead them into success right
and I wrote curriculum both on the business trade side
and the actual physical trade side. It really taught me
how to lead people and bring people together and kind
of a gift that I have for exciting people and
(19:22):
helping them see a mission or a picture bigger than themselves.
And it kind of naturally leant into Rotary. When I
was first invited into Denver Metro South, which had not
chartered yet, and learned that I got to be a
charter member and was invited right away to join the
leadership team, I thought, wow, this is kind of exactly
where I want to be and where I was as
an entrepreneur. But I was leading people that were kind
(19:43):
of I guess not dependent on me, but they were right.
They needed my leadership, they needed me to lead them
into successful careers and help educate them. Were this, I
get to lead people into things that we're all passionate about.
We are all rotarians because we want to be rotarians.
I'm soon, we're passionate about service, and so naturally my
leadership style just kind of lent into maybe instead of
(20:06):
leading people into successful careers, I'm now leading people into
successful service projects and being a part of a bigger
service community.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Absolutely, and you know, honestly, I can't think of a
greater service to the community than being involved in a
service club, whether it's Rotary, Kuwanas, Lions Club, all just
wonderful service clubs that are truly dedicated to serving the community.
Brown to just talk about some of the local projects
that are being done. You mentioned food drives and other
(20:39):
similar clothing drives for residents. What other projects do rotarians
do typically for those that may not be very familiar
with the type of projects, the scope, or the scale
that rotarians do every day.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Sure of it. So rotarians show up in the biggest
and the smallest way. Sometimes rotarians and rotary clubs go
to a food panter with four or six volunteers, and
volunteer just for you know, two to four hours. Sometimes
they put on these huge, elaborate events or support big
local events reaching out to the community like races and
runs and stuff that benefits the community, or a big
(21:16):
organization that's heavily supported by the community. Here's an example.
There's a high school here in Denver which is very impoverished.
The kids. Seventy percent of the kids live on the
food assistance program, so their football program has no money,
and one of our rotary clubs in this district throws
the football team. They're a holiday and end of season
banquet every year. They serve the families a hot meal,
(21:37):
they help them with the awards, they buy them Christmas
presents or holiday gifts. I should say. So it can
be as smaller as big, and rotary shows up at
all levels, which is pretty amazing, and nothing is too
big or too small I feel like for rotarians to
take on.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
And what I love again about rotary is that if
there is a very specific or a unique need, regardless
of the size or the scale within your community or internationally,
there is a group of people that you can find
your tribe essentially, right, there's a group of people where
you can realize true positive impact inside your community abroad,
(22:16):
whatever your you gravitate towards, whether it be you know,
supporting football teams that unfortunately don't have the funding or
the support to celebrate or have a recognition or have
a proper dinner to celebrate its athletes. I think those
are just small examples of the big hearts that Rotarians
(22:40):
have for their communities. What do you say, Brianna, No.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
I agree, And you know, it's there's so many examples
of again, like I said, at all levels at which
Rotarians serve, and I think there's so many communities in
need that we don't even realize. I mean, what I've
learned since I became a Rotarian is mind blowing. And
the stuff that still goes on internationally, the fact that
we do so much work internationally as American clubs or
(23:06):
international clubs coming and helping in America however that works
and looks. We're serving water projects internationally, we're doing you know,
education in Africa for women who knew as we go
on our everyday lives that it's so invaluable still there,
and so Rotary shows up at all levels, like I said,
in order to really serve as many communities as possible.
(23:29):
And I don't think there's any community that's in need
that's not deserving as far as Rotary is concerned. And
I think one of the reasons our club has been
so successful is we reach out to our club members
and we say, who do you want to serve? What
are you passionate about? How can we show up as
a club for you and the community that you want
to show up for?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Absolutely, And so with that, Brianna, we are going to
hit on a break everybody. Evet Walkdworth, ABC News and
Talks Southern California Business Report here today with Brianna Sherman,
who stands out as a brilliant, thread binding community and
heart centered action. Since joining Rotary in twenty twenty one,
she has transformed passion into purpose, standing as a beacon
(24:09):
of leadership in District fifty four to fifty and beyond.
Honored as Rotarian of the Year for twenty twenty two
to twenty three, Brianna's visionary approach has propelled the epic
Day of Service into a national phenomenon. Fostering unprecedented collaboration
among rotarians. When we return.
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Speaker 2 (27:50):
I like this Sun, Welcome back everyone. Youve at Walker
with ABC News and Talk Southern California Business Report. Here
today with Brianna Suerman, who stands out as a brilliant thread,
black binding, community and heart centered action. Since joining Rotary
in twenty twenty one, she has transformed passion into purpose,
(28:11):
standing as a beacon of leadership in District fifty four
to fifty and beyond. Honored as Rotarian of the Year
for twenty twenty two to twenty three, Brianna's visionary approach
has propelled the epic day of service into a national phenomenon,
fostering unprecedented collaboration amongst Rotarians. Thank you so much for
being with us today, Brianna, Thanks for having me avet
(28:33):
perfect so prior to the break, you gave us the
lay of the land of the Epic Day of Service,
How you coordinated with your fellow committee members as a
charter member of your new Denver fifty four fifty organization
and club. So to go from a charter club to
(28:56):
launching this extraordinarily transformative epic Day of service and on
an international scale, how does it feel coming out the
other side of it now? The event was May seventeenth.
He mentioned that you allow, you know, a time range
(29:16):
within that for clubs around the world to still participate
in the Epic Day of Service. But what does it
feel like to have completed this Epic Day of Service
for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Well, for the Northeast, as I had mentioned before, this
is their fourth year and in their by their third year,
they had done a phenomenal job of spreading it through
the Northeast and it was very successful. Joanne and Jeff
Kraus and Robert Friend really kind of made it dynamic.
And then Pat and I kind of launched it over
here in Colorado and then had the honor of when
Spiller and Dan Himmelspot getting behind us and encouraging us
(29:51):
to spread it through the zone. And so watching this
success through Zone twenty six and twenty seven, which was
the West Coast which was untouched last year other than Colorado,
has been a huge win for us. We've been so
proud to see how many clubs really kind of saw
the mission, saw the vision, could see us rotarians coming
together the honor of getting emails in phone calls, and
(30:13):
when we see them upload all of their photos from
all their projects, it really feels real and makes it
feel just so much more dynamic. So between the five
of us, Joanne, Jeff, Robert Patton, myself, I think the
way that we've had the conversation in the bigger global
community and getting six countries to participate and really spreading
(30:36):
the word has just been such an honor. And next
year we can't wait to see at least the United
States covered in red dots for projects all over, including
the Midwest and the South which we haven't quite gotten
there yet, and even more in our zones eve at
twenty six, twenty seven and then the Northeast. But really,
the phone calls and the emails and the photos tell
(30:58):
the story, and they tell the story of enjoyment, engagement
and interaction and clubs and communities coming together.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
That is so inspiring. Brienna. You mentioned some of the
projects that were done locally. Talk about those six countries.
Where are those six countries and those clubs and what
did some of those projects look like?
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Yeah, sure, we had Canada, we had Australia. We had
a few projects in Australia, we had the United Kingdom,
we had Bermuda, we had the Netherlands. And I'm gonna
forget this on I do this every time. I'm sorry, Bet,
but they did all sorts of very similar to the
(31:40):
projects here in North America. I mean they had yard
not yard cleanups, but community cleanups, park cleanups, tree planting.
They did. In Australia, they did a big blood drive
Canada very similar. We had basically a lot of the
same projects, but done in their own owned communities and
(32:01):
for what their communities needed. So it was really exciting.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
So when you look at these efforts and you're looking
already I'm guessing and I'm I'm assuming that you're already
planning for twenty twenty six, what do those plans look
like and what do you hope will occur for next year?
Speaker 3 (32:21):
So the biggest thing is Epic Day of Service is
just a call to rotarians and rotary clubs to show
up and sign up. We're not dictating what rotary clubs do,
what communities do. We're encouraging that every rotary club in
every district identify a need, what's the need in their community,
what's the need among a few of their collective clubs,
(32:41):
come together, work together and just show up for the
Epic Day of Service. So what we'd like to see
is more club collaboration, district collaboration. We'd love to see
more districts and clubs sign up. I mean, that's kind
of the biggest goal we'd love for Rotary International. I mean,
to have the conversation at the rotary level is to see,
you know, more pr for rotary, bigger visibility, so that
(33:04):
we're not walking into every community and somebody's like, what's rotary.
I think I've heard of it, but I'm not really sure.
So it's really kind of to remind the communities and honestly,
our goal, our big goal is to take this global,
is to have every country and every district that there
is a rotary club participate in the Epic Day of
Service at the level that works for their district and
(33:26):
their communities, and I think that's what makes us so unique.
And like I said early on in the call, one
of the brightest things that I have personally seen come
out of this because I've been the outreach person, is
the collaboration seeing clubs not be so siloed anymore and say, hey,
we're all in this together. We're doing this all year
long in the same capacity. Let's do it together and
continue to serve that way.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Certainly so for those that are listening that are not Rotarians,
that maybe have heard about Rotary and are now starting
to understand the concept and the philosophy behind Rotary's efforts
and its members, talk about what it takes to become
a Rotarian.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Sure. Sure, So every district has multiple Rotary clubs. I'll
use my district for an example, just because I'm the
most familiar. So district fifty four to fifty is in Colorado,
and basically, for those of you that know Colorado, it's
kind of the front range into the foothills. You know,
we're just south of Fort Collins and just north of
Colorado Springs. We have fifty six clubs in our district,
and every club has a different personality. Right. Every club
(34:26):
suits a different person, has a different kind of structure,
has different expectations of their memberships. But as the greater good,
as rotarians, we all have to align and follow a
similar code. So what we strongly encourage is that you
visit rotary clubs maybe one, maybe five, and find what
club speaks to you. Who can you, you know, assimilate with,
(34:47):
who become, as events said earlier, your people, and who's
serving the community that you want to serve. And to
become a rotarian, really you just have to have a
heart of service and be a good person and show
up and learn what it means to be a rotarian.
And I think what's made me such a successful rotarian
is also serving outside my club, serving at the district level,
(35:09):
the zone level, and being a part of the greater
community of Rotary. And you really learn the impact at
that time.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Absolutely. And you know, one of my favorite parts of
being a rotarian is reciting the Rotary four Way test.
Could you do that for us today to kind of
boil down Rotary's philosophy and expectations of its members.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Sure? Sure, the four Way test that all of US
rotary clubs recite mostly at our meetings. Is is it
the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it
be beneficial and bring goodwill? Help me out of it?
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Yes? Will it build goodwill? And and yes? And will
it be beneficial.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Special to all concerns?
Speaker 2 (35:52):
And of course I'm cheating a little bit. I'm looking
on my screen because I did have it typed up here.
It's a little bit different when you're saying it group,
it's almost like a prayer. You're saying it all together
so you can follow along. But when you boil down
the philosophy, I mean, who can dispute that? Or who
doesn't want to be a part of an organization that
values those philosophies and those expectations of their members well.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
And I feel like as Rotarians we hold each other
accountable to that, and I feel like it becomes a
community that really wants to serve together, work together, and
be a bigger community together, even in our own lives
and in our own families. And like Yvette said, we
all kind of say it together every time. So even
though I know it by heart, she caught me off
the catch. But it really is the heartbeat of Rotary
(36:39):
and it's what we talk about when we do service
when we go into the community, how we treat people,
how we work in our businesses, and that's the core
of being a rotarian.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Absolutely, And so with that said, it means a lot
to be recognized as a Rotarian of the Year for
twenty twenty two twenty three. Talk about being recognized as
Rotarian of the Year and in what ways did your
leadership contribute to that recognition.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Well, I think I mentioned it a little bit early.
I think one of the things that's made me such
a successful and passionate rotarian is that I didn't shy
away from leadership. I was invited to join leadership, and
I showed up. And I learned so much from the
more experienced rotarians, either from our sponsoring club, our mentoring club,
or on my own board, not my board, but my
(37:28):
club's board who had more rotary experience. And then the
encouragement to go to district events and to see the
world outside. And I just I feel like I was shocked.
I had no idea, I didn't even know what it
took to be nominated for Rotarian of the Year, and
so I was pretty blown away. And I think what really,
I guess spoke to the person that nominated me or
(37:51):
the people that nominated me, is I just showed up
at a high level and kept showing up and served
in a way that really served our club and even
our our district and said, hey, we're the brand new club.
We're a little club, but we're the club that could,
and we're here to serve the community.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
I absolutely love that. So for those that are listening again,
that are interested maybe becoming a member, what's the best
way to explore membership opportunities clubs in the area, projects,
et cetera. To find a community, find a place where
someone can feel comfortable giving back to the community.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Well, shameless plug, since we're here talking a little bit
about Epic Day of Services. Epic Day of Service is
one way to really get your toes wet, right. I mean,
I know it's a year away now, but going to
the global site around April and may finding a project
showing up, signing up, serving alongside rotarians. But then there's
also every district has different things. Our district has a
district website where you can contact us and they'll they'll
(38:50):
kind of match you based on your your you know,
I guess whatever you fill the form out, Hey, we
think this might be a good fit for you. This
club might be a good fit for you, trying out
a couple meetings or going to a couple social events,
finding a friend that you've heard is in Rotary and
having them invite you. I mean, really, we are just people,
people serving people, and we just want more people like
(39:13):
us to enjoy the benefits of Rotary, right, And so
when you say that we're just people, but people, you
know they have to integrate so many things.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Some people call it balance. I've heard one of my friends,
Hilda Kennedy, that calls it integration because balance really is
a tough thing. But integration and knowing how to make
it fit into one's life. What does that require for
a Rotarian that may be coming and new, that wants
to explore, but maybe doesn't want to be overwhelmed or
(39:44):
feel over committed.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Sure, that's a great question. And I did mention earlier
that every club has a different structure, and my club
in particular calls ourselves Rotary Reimagine, and we really are
trying to speak to a working professional, maybe people with
young children. And so we meet in an alternative fashion
where we don't meet every single week. We meet three
times a month. One is a service project, one is
(40:07):
a social and one is a program meeting, whereas some
more traditional clubs meet every single week for either breakfast, lunch,
or maybe a late afternoon. And you have to find
that balance, like you said, or that integration of what
works for your life. Where are you at in your
life and where will this rotary club fit in there?
And there's so many that you can fit in that
you could work around it. Some rotary clubs have strict
(40:29):
attendance requirements and some don't like mine. You know, they
allow for a busy working life, etc. But I'll tell
you right now, to really enjoy Rotary and to really
be a part of it is consider leadership and consider
finding your way through leadership.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Absolutely, so, what strategies will you be implementing in the
next twelve months to make sure the next epic day
of service is just as successful, if not more so
than this year's.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
So it's all about connections and engagement, right, which is
the other thing that Rotary's so phenomenal with. You know,
if you're a person that really loves to connect with
people all over the world or anywhere, So it will
be my job to continue to reach out to districts
that we haven't engaged yet, that we haven't talked to,
that haven't even heard about Epic Day Service, or regions
or territories or countries, and really kind of have the conversation.
(41:23):
Will be at Rotary International Convention in a couple of weeks.
We'll have a table there and get to talk to
the broader audience about what it means to participate in
the Epic Day of Service. So what we're implementing right
now is our marketing tactics going forward. What does it
look like for us to have a bigger presence on
social media and really engage at a higher level. What
does the marketing look like as we go international? And
(41:45):
what does it look like for the website. What do
we need to build in that it's already built pretty
phenomenally for the functionality of it, but what do we
need to build in where it speaks and tells the
story for us because I can't be in every country
and every community to try and get Roadary close to participate.
So that's kind of what we're working on right now
is our global I would say global marketing plan perfect.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
I rec men Google Translator, Yeah, I think to translate
a lot of these phrases and put it into various
community chat rooms and Facebook groups to invite them. There's
one idea, but talk about some of the feedback that
you've received as a result of being immediate past president
(42:33):
of District fifty four fifty in addition obviously to being
recognized as Rotarian of.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
The Year feedback in one set, So, I was the
president of my club, which is Denver Metro South, and
that was pretty rewarding. It's it's you you lead at
the highest level for your club, and really that the
success of your club kind of depends on who you
are as a leader, right, So what have you accomplished
throughout your year? And we did a really great job.
(43:01):
I think my club was really proud of ourselves. For
those of you that don't know, in rotary, we have
goals that we set and citations that we try to
earn and things that we try to accomplish as Rotary clubs,
and we met all of our goals during my presidential year,
which was a real honor. I feel like I've gotten
really positive feedback from my club members and the other
the rest of the board, and then as far as
(43:24):
Rotarian of the Year. I mean, it just was such
an honor in itself. I think it spoke to the
hard work that I put in that year, and we
had a wonderful president at the time, and she really
let me lead with her and let me support her
at a high level, and I think working together made
us an even more successful club, which also got us
Club of the Year for District fifty four to fifty,
(43:45):
which was a real honor. So I think our club
has a really great personality and connection, and I feel
like it's been great so far.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
I absolutely just really can feel the energy and the
dynamic tapestry that must be your club. So for those
that are listening again that may not be familiar with Rotary,
who are Rotarians?
Speaker 3 (44:10):
Right?
Speaker 2 (44:10):
You could talk about some of your club members and
some others that you've met through Rotary, But on a
broader sense, who is a Rotarian? Are their parents? Are
they business owners? Are they retirees? Are they people that
are in their prime? Who is today's Rotarian?
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Yes? To everything you met, Rotary has definitely changed over
the decades. Right. We have a much bigger female presence
than we ever used to historically, and historically we are anyone.
We are everyone. We are moms, we are business professionals,
we are entrepreneurs, we're lawyers, we're doctors, we are people
that want to come together in a collective good and
(44:50):
serve the world in a community and do something great.
There's no limitation to who you are as a person
to who you can be as a rotarian. Honestly, it's
like with anything, it's how do you show up, what
do you want to be and who do you want
to be as a rotarian. And I think that really
is the core of your success as a rotarian. But
(45:11):
I mentioned it earlier. We call ourselves rotary Reimagine. We
are sixty five percent women in our club, which is
kind of unique, and we only have two retired members,
where there's some clubs that are seventy five percent retired
and maybe ninety percent men. So again, you just kind
of have to find that club that speaks your language
and that fits your life or your integration, and it's
(45:33):
out there. They exist everywhere in every community.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
So talk about some of those tools that exist for member,
future members, future rotarians to explore those different clubs and
the different styles and flavors each club has to offer.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
I think one of the things to do is to
start Google in your community. Let's say I'm going to
use a specific Colorado community. Let's say you live in
Inglewood and you're like, Oh, does Inglewood have a rotary club?
I think you start there Inglewood Rotary Club, and you
look and you kind of see if they have a
web page most clubs do nowadays, and kind of see
what they have going on, show up to a meeting,
(46:11):
go and check it out. If it's not a good fit,
don't quit. Remember what I just said. Every club is
so different. It has its own personality. Every club serves
a different community. Some serve the same community. So I
think that's kind of where you start or googling where
you are. I'm in Denver. Is there a district? Because
we go club then district? Is there a district in Denver? Oh,
(46:31):
that's District fifty four to fifty. Go to their website
and see what the list of clubs are, or reach
out through the contact us help me. You can go
to Rotary International www dot Rotary International dot org and
it will direct you to clubs local to you and
help you find a club and help you fit in.
It will also contact our district and say, hey, somebody's
(46:53):
interested in Rotary, and so we have an opportunity to
reach out to you.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
Absolutely, And so that said, Yann, to talk about what
lasting impact, talk about the legacy you're hoping to leave
behind through Rotary and all of these uh, basically limitless
opportunities to serve communities, both locally and abroad.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
What a great question, So I said, you know, by
the end of my career, I would be in a
position where I could afford to be a philanthropist, let's say,
or like, you know, maybe a high level philanthropist. And
I feel like Rotary has opened doors for me that
I didn't know existed at this point in my life,
at all levels, that I could really serve and have
an impact in a great way today yesterday, let's say
(47:40):
I had small children and didn't have the biggest budget
in the world. Rotary allows so much commitment to communities
and to the world. And so I guess my lasting
impact is to remind people that, you know, we are
all human and at some point in our lives, everybody
has a need, whatever that needs it is, and as
(48:01):
people and humans with big, great hearts, we need to
see those needs and we need to serve them and
if we can do it at a great level and
leave a lasting change, let's do it. And I think
we can truly do that through Epic Day of Service.
Imagine tens of thousands communities changed, all on one day
every single year by rotarians serving with community members. How
(48:22):
big of an impact is that?
Speaker 2 (48:24):
Absolutely inspiring. Thank you so much, Brianna for taking the
lead and for being a part of this committed group
of leaders dedicated to enhancing and supporting projects and clubs
not only locally or nationally, but internationally and throughout the
(48:45):
globe to really leave their mark in their community and
fill a need wherever that need is big or small.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
Oh it's been my pleasure. It's been an honor and
I've been very flattered in honor to get to be
a part of this journey with Day of Service.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
So well, thank you very much, and I will follow
up with you because we will catch up as the
next Epic Day of Service approaches, so we can get
it on the radar and get more to participate and
be a part of such an impactful day around the world.
Speaker 3 (49:15):
Thank you so much, You Bette perfect.
Speaker 2 (49:17):
Everybody listening, don't forget to find us on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn,
and Instagram. Check us out on SCBR talk dot com.
Don't miss my conversation with Hilda Kennedy, who is a
visionary leader dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs and transforming communities through
equitable access to capital. As the founder and president of
(49:38):
AMPAK Business Capital, she has built the nation's faith first,
faith based, mission driven SBA lending group rooted in faith,
integrity and relentless commitment to small business success. Next week,
we will have Naibe Reinoso, a Mexican American multi Emmy
Award winning journalist based in Los Angeles, California, who has
(50:01):
worked and contributed to various regional, national, and international networks
including KTLA France, twenty four Univision Network, Reels Channel, CNN
EN Espanol, The Biography Channel, Fox News Latino. Naibe will
offer an inside look at Latina Fest. At Latina Fest
(50:21):
gears up for its seventh annual celebration on Sunday, June first,
at Gloria Molina Grand Park. This year's powerful theme is
a Legacy, a tribute to the traditions, stories and cultural
richness passed down by our ancestors and a celebration of
the legacy today's Latinas are creating for future generations. We
(50:43):
will see you all next week.
Welcome to k MET fourteen ninety am, ABC News Radio
and the Southern California Business Report with the Vett Walker,
a show dedicated to highlighting successful Southern California businesses and
the people behind them.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome and thank you for joining Southern California Business Report
on ABC News and Talks k ET fourteen ninety AM,
ninety eight point one FM and km ET TV. I'm
Vett Walker live blasting our signal from the center of
Southern California, serving a population of over twenty five million.
Get us crystal clear and on demand by downloading the
free live streaming app on Google Play and the Apple
(00:41):
App Store. As always a huge shout out to the
team Mitch, Bill and Sean I love you guys into
our special advisory committee that can be found at www
dot scbr talk dot com Forward Slash Advisory Committee. Click
on the link and learn about the remarkable leaders doing
the work. And as you know, I love highlighting leaders
(01:04):
that are dedicated to solutions, opportunities and success. And today
I'm absolutely thrilled to introduce Brianna Sherman, Global Expansion Chair
for Rotary's Epic Day of Service. She has been a
dedicated Rotarian since twenty twenty one, driven by her passion
for service and expanding the visibility of rotaries impact in
communities worldwide. Recognized as the Rotarian of the Year for
(01:28):
twenty twenty two twenty three in District fifty four to fifty,
she has played a pivotal role in rotary leadership at
both the club level, District and Zone twenty six twenty
seven through her service with the Epic Day of Service.
She has served her club as Secretary Service Chair for
two years and most recently as immediately past president for
(01:49):
the twenty twenty three twenty four Rotary Year. In addition,
she has been instrumental in Rotary's growth, serving as the
global Expansion Chair for the Epic Day of Service is
its inception in Colorado, contributing to the success of club
participation nationally and internationally. As a co founder of the
West Coast Epic Day of Service, Brianna has championed large
(02:12):
scale service initiatives, fostering collaboration and engagement among Rotarians, clubs
and communities to create lasting change. Her ability to align
vision and hope bring people together in a mission that
is infectious and creates forward progress for initiatives she helps
to champion. Brianna's professional background as an entrepreneur is rooted
(02:33):
in business development, growth and education. She successfully owned and
operated two corporations within the professional cosmetology industry, where she
made a significant impact as a stage educator and through
her own trade curriculum. Her expertise in mentoring and developing
professionals seamlessly aligns with her passion for Rotary, where she
(02:55):
continues to inspire and empower the next generation of leaders.
Remains committed to driving innovation, service and leadership within Rotary,
ensuring its legacy of impact continues for years to come.
Thank you so much for being with us today, Brianna, Thank.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
You for having me event. I really look forward to
our conversation.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
You know, Epic Day of Service through Rotary. The name
itself is just astounding, right, it's epic and I see
it's all in caps. What does that stand for?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Well, it's not specifically an acronym, but more so, we
want to make an epic movement with Rotary in the communities,
bringing communities together with Rotary and service and making a
difference all over the world globally. So we want to
be epic in our service.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I love it, and as we know, rotarians are epic.
I'm a proud rotarian myself since twenty fifteen, which is
why I love highlighting my fellow rotarians and their epic journeys,
their epic involvement, and their epic results. So let's talk
about your journey to becoming a rotarian first, because that's
one of the favorite parts of the journey is sharing
(04:04):
your why as to what pulled you into Rotary. A
service club that is international, that is over one hundred
years old, that has been credited with merely eradicating poliol
but two countries through their relentless vaccination efforts for polio.
(04:24):
Tell us what prompted you to join Rotary?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Well, when I sold my businesses in twenty nineteen and
my husband and I decided to make a big move.
We moved from California to Colorado, which is my home state.
I decided that I wanted to get involved in something
bigger and something different where I could get back to
the community into the world. And I was invited by
another local rotarian. I was at a happy hour and
was invited to check out a club and I had
(04:51):
the honor of being a charter member and helping charter
the newest club in district fifty four to fifty back
in twenty twenty one, and just really realized that, Wow,
I have found my place and my passion with specifically
my passion for service and serving the community and the world,
and Rotary gives me every opportunity to do that. And
then really following up with my passion for leadership.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Well, you know, it's quite a move to become a Rotarian,
but to become a charter member of a whole new club,
let's talk about that and what it takes to create
a whole new club in Rotary.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Sure, so I came in a little bit, probably about
midway amongst the group, and at the time, you needed
twenty members to charter a brand new club in a district.
And so we spent about a year year and a
half building that membership, probably about a year already operating
as a club. We were doing service projects and we
had to have a sponsor club. So we were sponsored
(05:46):
by the Denver Southeast Club here in Denver, which is
a large, very experienced club, and we had two specific
mentors that helped guide us into following the bylaws setting
up our charter doing all the things. So once we
hit twenty members, we submitted to District fifty four to
fifty that we were ready to charter as a club,
and so we did. We had to just like any
(06:07):
other club, we had to build a board of leadership,
find it out of those twenty brand new Rotarians or
brand new members, people that wanted to lead the club
and lead it into existence. And so that's kind of
the base of it is finding a really great sponsor
club that has mentors that are willing to lead you
into really success. And so we chartered in September of
(06:29):
twenty twenty one and are still currently the newest club
in District fifty four to fifty And with that said,
we actually got Club of the Year in twenty twenty two,
twenty twenty three as well. So and it was for
I think the recognition of the fact that our club
is very hands on service, which then ties into my
passion for epic day of service.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Right. And when you talk about those frameworks that exist,
the by laws, the structure of the board, basically it
boils down to fiduciary duty and a true commitment to
the communities that Rotary serves. Whether locally or on a
national stage, which I believe has had a great impact
obviously on the credibility of the goals of Rotary, its
(07:12):
members and the events that it holds. Tell us a
little bit about that. When you were learning about Rotary
and the fiduciary duty and the true impact that Rotarians
make throughout the world.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Well, and you know that that is probably one thing
that really helped me align to become a Rotarian. Is
one of the things I'm most proud of is how
Rotary International, at the international level, then the zone level,
district level, and club level handled donors' dollars. I think
we are so responsible with donors money and putting it
back into the community and not using it, you know,
for operational budgets. So it was really fascinating to learn.
(07:46):
I've been in leadership or like you said earlier, entrepreneurialship
and running businesses and whatever, but really diving deep into
a nonprofit organization that's as old as ours and how
much structure is built into the accountability and the fiduciary
duty to the people that participate in Rotary or donate
to Rotary was really interesting, and I think that's where
it really helped to have a great mentoring club that
(08:08):
really has it's a very successful club and has a
lot of history, and they were able to share with us,
you know, their bylaws and their charters and stuff like that,
where we could then adapt them to what we call
Rotary Reimagined is what we call our club. We are
a little we structured ourselves a little bit different outside
of traditional Rotary club, which has been really great for
(08:29):
us attracting young, you know, business professionals. But it is
really interesting when you get into the heart of Rotary
and really learn how much it offers and how much
history it has. The structure and like you said, the
fiduciary duty behind it is pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It really is, because in the landscape of fundraising and
giving back to the community, you know, keeping a strict
oversight over those donations and those moneys that come in
is very important and being held to the highest you know,
accountability is key. So let's switch gears back to the
epic day of service, because you became a member in
(09:06):
twenty twenty one, it's here twenty twenty five, four years later,
and throughout that time talk about the planning process, the stages,
the idea, that came to light where you know, you
and your fellow charter members of fifty three forty said,
you know, we want to do an epic day of service.
How does that even come to light?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
What's kind of interesting. It kind of started a little
bit east and a little bit west. So a gentleman
by the name of Pat mcgukin, who is part of
the sponsoring club Denver Southeast that helped sponsor my club
to charter, had this vision to do a day of
service and to have it be rotary clubs bringing the
community in and serving all over the world on one
(09:47):
epic day and making a difference. And when he started
doing some research, he found that on the East Coast
a day of service had started pretty successfully about a
year year and a half before by two district governor
in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and that was Joanne Alferry and
Jeff Krause. And basically that was during Shaker Madea's year
(10:07):
when he really challenged that he was the Rhetory International
President and he challenged his districts and his clubs to
get together and do a day of service. Let's get
back out in the community and make this forward facing
and remind people that we are a service organization. So
those two district governors took it very seriously, and as
Pat and myself and anybody else here on the West
(10:29):
Coast started to do more research, we decided that it
made sense for us to line and it kind of
meant went East meets West. So the first year that
we participated in Colorado was last year, which would have
been the third year for the East Coast, and now
this year that we just completed, which it's not totally
done yet, May seventeenth, East meets West zone twenty six,
(10:51):
twenty seven, which I'm sure we'll go into a little
bit later. We've really spread it through the West Coast
and grown it. If that gives you a little bit
of the.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Background, Yes, So what does it take? Talk about your
committee members, talk about the planning process, talk about the
logistics behind creating an event like this and dedicating May
seventeenth as the epic day of service.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Sure, so it will forever be well for now, forever
be the third Saturday in May. It's just the date
that worked that aligned. So this year it was May seventeenth,
and we have built a board of directors and we
have actually started our own five oh one C three
nonprofit because we do have a fundraising component to the
(11:35):
Epic Day of Service, which is handled exactly like donations
to Rotary International. The money's managed very similarly. But with
that said, we basically have created positions where we built
a global website which was launched this year. So the
global website now allows clubs all over the world to
register their projects, sign up their volunteers, get it out
(11:59):
into the communities, share their projects, invite the community to
come in and serve with them. So the global website
has really been a key tool to really spreading this
throughout the nation and now of course also internationally. Second
to that is just taking on the roles of finding
people like myself that are willing to go out at
the zone level, at the district level, meet with leadership
(12:21):
in other areas and get them to I don't want
to use this term negatively, but to buy into the
benefits of what happens when Rotarians all go out on
one day and serve all over the world within their communities,
inviting their communities in and the benefit of Rotary and
the communities through that with positive pr and membership and
(12:41):
engagement of your members that maybe haven't been that engaged.
So we have found that not only has it done that,
it has also brought clubs and districts together where we're
now seeing them serve at a higher level in a
bigger picture, and then continuing to serve together all year long.
So it's taken quite a bit. It's been a labor force.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
It sounds like, you know, all of these programs are
a labor of love, especially since it's all volunteer run, right.
Everybody is a volunteer. No one gets paid to coordinate
or do any of these things, but they apply their
expertise and their resources to benefit their communities, both locally
(13:19):
and abroad. And there is no project I can't imagine
of a project that Rotary doesn't cover. I mean, if
your mind can conceive a project of some need within
your community, then I'm sure it exists somewhere around the world.
So with that said, Brian to talk about some of
the projects that you saw posted on the global website
for this epic day of service.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Yes, we've seen everything from blood drives to supporting children's
development centers, canal cleanups up in here in the foothills
a whole I think it was four or five clubs
banded together and cleaned up a whole community where the
county came in supported them. It was promoted on the news.
(14:04):
We have seen let's see food banks where they have
provided opportunities that's outside the food banks normal realm project
here where they're sending medical supplies overseas, crutches for Africa.
We had a whole community of rotary clubs do solar
panels for Ukraine where they decorated them and their battery
(14:28):
operated solar panels. No, that doesn't make any sense, they're
solar operated solar panels, but they shipped them to Ukraine
and wrote messages on them. So they brought the youth
community in where they decorated the back of the solar panels.
We have seen it all. We've seen whole senior centers rehabbed.
Anything that you can imagine rotarians are coming together and
(14:50):
bringing the community in to do that is wonderful.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
So what was the feedback that you got from this
event that occurred on May seventeenth, Because it's still pretty fresh,
but I can imagine it was an epic day of service.
And you mentioned East meets West zones twenty six and
twenty seven. What does that look like and how many
clubs do those zones cover?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
So we haven't finalized the numbers quite yet. They're still
coming in. So while we talk about the epic day
of service and we would love if everybody would serve
on one day, we realized that doesn't meet every club's needs.
So we encourage clubs to still participate within a small
window outside of the day, in a small on either side.
So we still have active projects registered on the website
(15:33):
that are still happening. But basically East meats West is
last year in the northeast, they had great success again
that was their third year. We had about twenty one
districts and about twelve hundred clubs that participated this year
in Zone twenty six twenty seven For people that don't understand,
that's basically Colorado north all the way into Canada south
(15:55):
all the way to Hawaii west, and we had about
another there. Let's see, we added eighteen states this year,
I believe it was, and so we've really grown tremendously.
If you go to the global website and you look
at the West Coast map, you'll see the red dots
all throughout the West Coast, which didn't exist last year
(16:16):
except just in Colorado, and that was kind of my
role this year was to really bring it to the
West and see how we could tie it together. And
now our goal is to fill in the middle and
get even more countries involved. We're in six countries this
year as well, which was very exciting.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Right, which explains why you're here with us today. This
is Southern California Business Report, but your effort covered this
entire region which includes southern California to Colorado, which I
absolutely love Colorado. Is it patch chili season yet?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yes? It is just about you can find them about everywhere.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Perfect. Yes, it's wonderful. So with that said, talk about
the overarching goals of Rotary International through these service projects
and these robust efforts to really get out into the
community and gain visibility and I don't want to say recognition,
(17:09):
but just awareness of what Rotarians do within their community.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Well, and you hit it right there. So we have
realized over the four years that there are four major
areas that this really highlights and targets and for Rotary
specific you know, membership, re engagement, retention, and even potentially recruitment.
When we have the community come serve alongside us, shoulder
to shoulder, and they see what we actually do in
the community. It creates a new excitement and a new
(17:36):
buzz and people are like, oh wait, maybe I'm interested
in joining a rotary club. Then we have found that
the pr from it when you take a community of people,
whatever that community is, and say hey, we're all going
to stand up on one day, on one day and
we're going to show up for our communities globally worldwide.
That's a news story, and that's a feel good news story.
And what a great way to remind the community that hey,
(17:59):
we're rotarians. We don't just give donations or write scholarships
or help nonprofits through financial contributions. We are actually serving
hands on in this community and your community and every community.
And then lastly, you know, through the fundraising, it helps
us and that's an optional component, but it helps clubs
found fund at their foundations so they can do service
(18:21):
projects all year long, so we can continue to serve
the community at a high level. And again, like you said,
remind the world that we're one point three million rotarians worldwide.
We have sixty thousand clubs. I think it has thirty
six thousand clubs worldwide and we're in almost every single country,
and I think people forget that we are everywhere and
(18:42):
we're here to be a part of the community and.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
To serve it absolutely. And so with that said, brand
that share how your previous roles as a business owner
and educator and in the professional cosmetology industry prepare you
for leadership within Rotary.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
It's an interesting segue. I think, you know, as an
entrepreneur and owning businesses where I had my own employees
and kind of had to lead them into success right
and I wrote curriculum both on the business trade side
and the actual physical trade side. It really taught me
how to lead people and bring people together and kind
of a gift that I have for exciting people and
(19:22):
helping them see a mission or a picture bigger than themselves.
And it kind of naturally leant into Rotary. When I
was first invited into Denver Metro South, which had not
chartered yet, and learned that I got to be a
charter member and was invited right away to join the
leadership team, I thought, wow, this is kind of exactly
where I want to be and where I was as
an entrepreneur. But I was leading people that were kind
(19:43):
of I guess not dependent on me, but they were right.
They needed my leadership, they needed me to lead them
into successful careers and help educate them. Were this, I
get to lead people into things that we're all passionate about.
We are all rotarians because we want to be rotarians.
I'm soon, we're passionate about service, and so naturally my
leadership style just kind of lent into maybe instead of
(20:06):
leading people into successful careers, I'm now leading people into
successful service projects and being a part of a bigger
service community.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Absolutely, and you know, honestly, I can't think of a
greater service to the community than being involved in a
service club, whether it's Rotary, Kuwanas, Lions Club, all just
wonderful service clubs that are truly dedicated to serving the community.
Brown to just talk about some of the local projects
that are being done. You mentioned food drives and other
(20:39):
similar clothing drives for residents. What other projects do rotarians
do typically for those that may not be very familiar
with the type of projects, the scope, or the scale
that rotarians do every day.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Sure of it. So rotarians show up in the biggest
and the smallest way. Sometimes rotarians and rotary clubs go
to a food panter with four or six volunteers, and
volunteer just for you know, two to four hours. Sometimes
they put on these huge, elaborate events or support big
local events reaching out to the community like races and
runs and stuff that benefits the community, or a big
(21:16):
organization that's heavily supported by the community. Here's an example.
There's a high school here in Denver which is very impoverished.
The kids. Seventy percent of the kids live on the
food assistance program, so their football program has no money,
and one of our rotary clubs in this district throws
the football team. They're a holiday and end of season
banquet every year. They serve the families a hot meal,
(21:37):
they help them with the awards, they buy them Christmas
presents or holiday gifts. I should say. So it can
be as smaller as big, and rotary shows up at
all levels, which is pretty amazing, and nothing is too
big or too small I feel like for rotarians to
take on.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
And what I love again about rotary is that if
there is a very specific or a unique need, regardless
of the size or the scale within your community or internationally,
there is a group of people that you can find
your tribe essentially, right, there's a group of people where
you can realize true positive impact inside your community abroad,
(22:16):
whatever your you gravitate towards, whether it be you know,
supporting football teams that unfortunately don't have the funding or
the support to celebrate or have a recognition or have
a proper dinner to celebrate its athletes. I think those
are just small examples of the big hearts that Rotarians
(22:40):
have for their communities. What do you say, Brianna, No.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
I agree, And you know, it's there's so many examples
of again, like I said, at all levels at which
Rotarians serve, and I think there's so many communities in
need that we don't even realize. I mean, what I've
learned since I became a Rotarian is mind blowing. And
the stuff that still goes on internationally, the fact that
we do so much work internationally as American clubs or
(23:06):
international clubs coming and helping in America however that works
and looks. We're serving water projects internationally, we're doing you know,
education in Africa for women who knew as we go
on our everyday lives that it's so invaluable still there,
and so Rotary shows up at all levels, like I said,
in order to really serve as many communities as possible.
(23:29):
And I don't think there's any community that's in need
that's not deserving as far as Rotary is concerned. And
I think one of the reasons our club has been
so successful is we reach out to our club members
and we say, who do you want to serve? What
are you passionate about? How can we show up as
a club for you and the community that you want
to show up for?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Absolutely, And so with that, Brianna, we are going to
hit on a break everybody. Evet Walkdworth, ABC News and
Talks Southern California Business Report here today with Brianna Sherman,
who stands out as a brilliant, thread binding community and
heart centered action. Since joining Rotary in twenty twenty one,
she has transformed passion into purpose, standing as a beacon
(24:09):
of leadership in District fifty four to fifty and beyond.
Honored as Rotarian of the Year for twenty twenty two
to twenty three, Brianna's visionary approach has propelled the epic
Day of Service into a national phenomenon. Fostering unprecedented collaboration
among rotarians. When we return.
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Speaker 2 (27:50):
I like this Sun, Welcome back everyone. Youve at Walker
with ABC News and Talk Southern California Business Report. Here
today with Brianna Suerman, who stands out as a brilliant thread,
black binding, community and heart centered action. Since joining Rotary
in twenty twenty one, she has transformed passion into purpose,
(28:11):
standing as a beacon of leadership in District fifty four
to fifty and beyond. Honored as Rotarian of the Year
for twenty twenty two to twenty three, Brianna's visionary approach
has propelled the epic day of service into a national phenomenon,
fostering unprecedented collaboration amongst Rotarians. Thank you so much for
being with us today, Brianna, Thanks for having me avet
(28:33):
perfect so prior to the break, you gave us the
lay of the land of the Epic Day of Service,
How you coordinated with your fellow committee members as a
charter member of your new Denver fifty four fifty organization
and club. So to go from a charter club to
(28:56):
launching this extraordinarily transformative epic Day of service and on
an international scale, how does it feel coming out the
other side of it now? The event was May seventeenth.
He mentioned that you allow, you know, a time range
(29:16):
within that for clubs around the world to still participate
in the Epic Day of Service. But what does it
feel like to have completed this Epic Day of Service
for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Well, for the Northeast, as I had mentioned before, this
is their fourth year and in their by their third year,
they had done a phenomenal job of spreading it through
the Northeast and it was very successful. Joanne and Jeff
Kraus and Robert Friend really kind of made it dynamic.
And then Pat and I kind of launched it over
here in Colorado and then had the honor of when
Spiller and Dan Himmelspot getting behind us and encouraging us
(29:51):
to spread it through the zone. And so watching this
success through Zone twenty six and twenty seven, which was
the West Coast which was untouched last year other than Colorado,
has been a huge win for us. We've been so
proud to see how many clubs really kind of saw
the mission, saw the vision, could see us rotarians coming
together the honor of getting emails in phone calls, and
(30:13):
when we see them upload all of their photos from
all their projects, it really feels real and makes it
feel just so much more dynamic. So between the five
of us, Joanne, Jeff, Robert Patton, myself, I think the
way that we've had the conversation in the bigger global
community and getting six countries to participate and really spreading
(30:36):
the word has just been such an honor. And next
year we can't wait to see at least the United
States covered in red dots for projects all over, including
the Midwest and the South which we haven't quite gotten
there yet, and even more in our zones eve at
twenty six, twenty seven and then the Northeast. But really,
the phone calls and the emails and the photos tell
(30:58):
the story, and they tell the story of enjoyment, engagement
and interaction and clubs and communities coming together.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
That is so inspiring. Brienna. You mentioned some of the
projects that were done locally. Talk about those six countries.
Where are those six countries and those clubs and what
did some of those projects look like?
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Yeah, sure, we had Canada, we had Australia. We had
a few projects in Australia, we had the United Kingdom,
we had Bermuda, we had the Netherlands. And I'm gonna
forget this on I do this every time. I'm sorry, Bet,
but they did all sorts of very similar to the
(31:40):
projects here in North America. I mean they had yard
not yard cleanups, but community cleanups, park cleanups, tree planting.
They did. In Australia, they did a big blood drive
Canada very similar. We had basically a lot of the
same projects, but done in their own owned communities and
(32:01):
for what their communities needed. So it was really exciting.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
So when you look at these efforts and you're looking
already I'm guessing and I'm I'm assuming that you're already
planning for twenty twenty six, what do those plans look
like and what do you hope will occur for next year?
Speaker 3 (32:21):
So the biggest thing is Epic Day of Service is
just a call to rotarians and rotary clubs to show
up and sign up. We're not dictating what rotary clubs do,
what communities do. We're encouraging that every rotary club in
every district identify a need, what's the need in their community,
what's the need among a few of their collective clubs,
(32:41):
come together, work together and just show up for the
Epic Day of Service. So what we'd like to see
is more club collaboration, district collaboration. We'd love to see
more districts and clubs sign up. I mean, that's kind
of the biggest goal we'd love for Rotary International. I mean,
to have the conversation at the rotary level is to see,
you know, more pr for rotary, bigger visibility, so that
(33:04):
we're not walking into every community and somebody's like, what's rotary.
I think I've heard of it, but I'm not really sure.
So it's really kind of to remind the communities and honestly,
our goal, our big goal is to take this global,
is to have every country and every district that there
is a rotary club participate in the Epic Day of
Service at the level that works for their district and
(33:26):
their communities, and I think that's what makes us so unique.
And like I said early on in the call, one
of the brightest things that I have personally seen come
out of this because I've been the outreach person, is
the collaboration seeing clubs not be so siloed anymore and say, hey,
we're all in this together. We're doing this all year
long in the same capacity. Let's do it together and
continue to serve that way.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Certainly so for those that are listening that are not Rotarians,
that maybe have heard about Rotary and are now starting
to understand the concept and the philosophy behind Rotary's efforts
and its members, talk about what it takes to become
a Rotarian.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Sure. Sure, So every district has multiple Rotary clubs. I'll
use my district for an example, just because I'm the
most familiar. So district fifty four to fifty is in Colorado,
and basically, for those of you that know Colorado, it's
kind of the front range into the foothills. You know,
we're just south of Fort Collins and just north of
Colorado Springs. We have fifty six clubs in our district,
and every club has a different personality. Right. Every club
(34:26):
suits a different person, has a different kind of structure,
has different expectations of their memberships. But as the greater good,
as rotarians, we all have to align and follow a
similar code. So what we strongly encourage is that you
visit rotary clubs maybe one, maybe five, and find what
club speaks to you. Who can you, you know, assimilate with,
(34:47):
who become, as events said earlier, your people, and who's
serving the community that you want to serve. And to
become a rotarian, really you just have to have a
heart of service and be a good person and show
up and learn what it means to be a rotarian.
And I think what's made me such a successful rotarian
is also serving outside my club, serving at the district level,
(35:09):
the zone level, and being a part of the greater
community of Rotary. And you really learn the impact at
that time.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Absolutely. And you know, one of my favorite parts of
being a rotarian is reciting the Rotary four Way test.
Could you do that for us today to kind of
boil down Rotary's philosophy and expectations of its members.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Sure? Sure, the four Way test that all of US
rotary clubs recite mostly at our meetings. Is is it
the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it
be beneficial and bring goodwill? Help me out of it?
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Yes? Will it build goodwill? And and yes? And will
it be beneficial.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Special to all concerns?
Speaker 2 (35:52):
And of course I'm cheating a little bit. I'm looking
on my screen because I did have it typed up here.
It's a little bit different when you're saying it group,
it's almost like a prayer. You're saying it all together
so you can follow along. But when you boil down
the philosophy, I mean, who can dispute that? Or who
doesn't want to be a part of an organization that
values those philosophies and those expectations of their members well.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
And I feel like as Rotarians we hold each other
accountable to that, and I feel like it becomes a
community that really wants to serve together, work together, and
be a bigger community together, even in our own lives
and in our own families. And like Yvette said, we
all kind of say it together every time. So even
though I know it by heart, she caught me off
the catch. But it really is the heartbeat of Rotary
(36:39):
and it's what we talk about when we do service
when we go into the community, how we treat people,
how we work in our businesses, and that's the core
of being a rotarian.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Absolutely, And so with that said, it means a lot
to be recognized as a Rotarian of the Year for
twenty twenty two twenty three. Talk about being recognized as
Rotarian of the Year and in what ways did your
leadership contribute to that recognition.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Well, I think I mentioned it a little bit early.
I think one of the things that's made me such
a successful and passionate rotarian is that I didn't shy
away from leadership. I was invited to join leadership, and
I showed up. And I learned so much from the
more experienced rotarians, either from our sponsoring club, our mentoring club,
or on my own board, not my board, but my
(37:28):
club's board who had more rotary experience. And then the
encouragement to go to district events and to see the
world outside. And I just I feel like I was shocked.
I had no idea, I didn't even know what it
took to be nominated for Rotarian of the Year, and
so I was pretty blown away. And I think what really,
I guess spoke to the person that nominated me or
(37:51):
the people that nominated me, is I just showed up
at a high level and kept showing up and served
in a way that really served our club and even
our our district and said, hey, we're the brand new club.
We're a little club, but we're the club that could,
and we're here to serve the community.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
I absolutely love that. So for those that are listening again,
that are interested maybe becoming a member, what's the best
way to explore membership opportunities clubs in the area, projects,
et cetera. To find a community, find a place where
someone can feel comfortable giving back to the community.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Well, shameless plug, since we're here talking a little bit
about Epic Day of Services. Epic Day of Service is
one way to really get your toes wet, right. I mean,
I know it's a year away now, but going to
the global site around April and may finding a project
showing up, signing up, serving alongside rotarians. But then there's
also every district has different things. Our district has a
district website where you can contact us and they'll they'll
(38:50):
kind of match you based on your your you know,
I guess whatever you fill the form out, Hey, we
think this might be a good fit for you. This
club might be a good fit for you, trying out
a couple meetings or going to a couple social events,
finding a friend that you've heard is in Rotary and
having them invite you. I mean, really, we are just people,
people serving people, and we just want more people like
(39:13):
us to enjoy the benefits of Rotary, right, And so
when you say that we're just people, but people, you
know they have to integrate so many things.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Some people call it balance. I've heard one of my friends,
Hilda Kennedy, that calls it integration because balance really is
a tough thing. But integration and knowing how to make
it fit into one's life. What does that require for
a Rotarian that may be coming and new, that wants
to explore, but maybe doesn't want to be overwhelmed or
(39:44):
feel over committed.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Sure, that's a great question. And I did mention earlier
that every club has a different structure, and my club
in particular calls ourselves Rotary Reimagine, and we really are
trying to speak to a working professional, maybe people with
young children. And so we meet in an alternative fashion
where we don't meet every single week. We meet three
times a month. One is a service project, one is
(40:07):
a social and one is a program meeting, whereas some
more traditional clubs meet every single week for either breakfast, lunch,
or maybe a late afternoon. And you have to find
that balance, like you said, or that integration of what
works for your life. Where are you at in your
life and where will this rotary club fit in there?
And there's so many that you can fit in that
you could work around it. Some rotary clubs have strict
(40:29):
attendance requirements and some don't like mine. You know, they
allow for a busy working life, etc. But I'll tell
you right now, to really enjoy Rotary and to really
be a part of it is consider leadership and consider
finding your way through leadership.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Absolutely, so, what strategies will you be implementing in the
next twelve months to make sure the next epic day
of service is just as successful, if not more so
than this year's.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
So it's all about connections and engagement, right, which is
the other thing that Rotary's so phenomenal with. You know,
if you're a person that really loves to connect with
people all over the world or anywhere, So it will
be my job to continue to reach out to districts
that we haven't engaged yet, that we haven't talked to,
that haven't even heard about Epic Day Service, or regions
or territories or countries, and really kind of have the conversation.
(41:23):
Will be at Rotary International Convention in a couple of weeks.
We'll have a table there and get to talk to
the broader audience about what it means to participate in
the Epic Day of Service. So what we're implementing right
now is our marketing tactics going forward. What does it
look like for us to have a bigger presence on
social media and really engage at a higher level. What
does the marketing look like as we go international? And
(41:45):
what does it look like for the website. What do
we need to build in that it's already built pretty
phenomenally for the functionality of it, but what do we
need to build in where it speaks and tells the
story for us because I can't be in every country
and every community to try and get Roadary close to participate.
So that's kind of what we're working on right now
is our global I would say global marketing plan perfect.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
I rec men Google Translator, Yeah, I think to translate
a lot of these phrases and put it into various
community chat rooms and Facebook groups to invite them. There's
one idea, but talk about some of the feedback that
you've received as a result of being immediate past president
(42:33):
of District fifty four fifty in addition obviously to being
recognized as Rotarian of.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
The Year feedback in one set, So, I was the
president of my club, which is Denver Metro South, and
that was pretty rewarding. It's it's you you lead at
the highest level for your club, and really that the
success of your club kind of depends on who you
are as a leader, right, So what have you accomplished
throughout your year? And we did a really great job.
(43:01):
I think my club was really proud of ourselves. For
those of you that don't know, in rotary, we have
goals that we set and citations that we try to
earn and things that we try to accomplish as Rotary clubs,
and we met all of our goals during my presidential year,
which was a real honor. I feel like I've gotten
really positive feedback from my club members and the other
the rest of the board, and then as far as
(43:24):
Rotarian of the Year. I mean, it just was such
an honor in itself. I think it spoke to the
hard work that I put in that year, and we
had a wonderful president at the time, and she really
let me lead with her and let me support her
at a high level, and I think working together made
us an even more successful club, which also got us
Club of the Year for District fifty four to fifty,
(43:45):
which was a real honor. So I think our club
has a really great personality and connection, and I feel
like it's been great so far.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
I absolutely just really can feel the energy and the
dynamic tapestry that must be your club. So for those
that are listening again that may not be familiar with Rotary,
who are Rotarians?
Speaker 3 (44:10):
Right?
Speaker 2 (44:10):
You could talk about some of your club members and
some others that you've met through Rotary, But on a
broader sense, who is a Rotarian? Are their parents? Are
they business owners? Are they retirees? Are they people that
are in their prime? Who is today's Rotarian?
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Yes? To everything you met, Rotary has definitely changed over
the decades. Right. We have a much bigger female presence
than we ever used to historically, and historically we are anyone.
We are everyone. We are moms, we are business professionals,
we are entrepreneurs, we're lawyers, we're doctors, we are people
that want to come together in a collective good and
(44:50):
serve the world in a community and do something great.
There's no limitation to who you are as a person
to who you can be as a rotarian. Honestly, it's
like with anything, it's how do you show up, what
do you want to be and who do you want
to be as a rotarian. And I think that really
is the core of your success as a rotarian. But
(45:11):
I mentioned it earlier. We call ourselves rotary Reimagine. We
are sixty five percent women in our club, which is
kind of unique, and we only have two retired members,
where there's some clubs that are seventy five percent retired
and maybe ninety percent men. So again, you just kind
of have to find that club that speaks your language
and that fits your life or your integration, and it's
(45:33):
out there. They exist everywhere in every community.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
So talk about some of those tools that exist for member,
future members, future rotarians to explore those different clubs and
the different styles and flavors each club has to offer.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
I think one of the things to do is to
start Google in your community. Let's say I'm going to
use a specific Colorado community. Let's say you live in
Inglewood and you're like, Oh, does Inglewood have a rotary club?
I think you start there Inglewood Rotary Club, and you
look and you kind of see if they have a
web page most clubs do nowadays, and kind of see
what they have going on, show up to a meeting,
(46:11):
go and check it out. If it's not a good fit,
don't quit. Remember what I just said. Every club is
so different. It has its own personality. Every club serves
a different community. Some serve the same community. So I
think that's kind of where you start or googling where
you are. I'm in Denver. Is there a district? Because
we go club then district? Is there a district in Denver? Oh,
(46:31):
that's District fifty four to fifty. Go to their website
and see what the list of clubs are, or reach
out through the contact us help me. You can go
to Rotary International www dot Rotary International dot org and
it will direct you to clubs local to you and
help you find a club and help you fit in.
It will also contact our district and say, hey, somebody's
(46:53):
interested in Rotary, and so we have an opportunity to
reach out to you.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
Absolutely, And so that said, Yann, to talk about what
lasting impact, talk about the legacy you're hoping to leave
behind through Rotary and all of these uh, basically limitless
opportunities to serve communities, both locally and abroad.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
What a great question, So I said, you know, by
the end of my career, I would be in a
position where I could afford to be a philanthropist, let's say,
or like, you know, maybe a high level philanthropist. And
I feel like Rotary has opened doors for me that
I didn't know existed at this point in my life,
at all levels, that I could really serve and have
an impact in a great way today yesterday, let's say
(47:40):
I had small children and didn't have the biggest budget
in the world. Rotary allows so much commitment to communities
and to the world. And so I guess my lasting
impact is to remind people that, you know, we are
all human and at some point in our lives, everybody
has a need, whatever that needs it is, and as
(48:01):
people and humans with big, great hearts, we need to
see those needs and we need to serve them and
if we can do it at a great level and
leave a lasting change, let's do it. And I think
we can truly do that through Epic Day of Service.
Imagine tens of thousands communities changed, all on one day
every single year by rotarians serving with community members. How
(48:22):
big of an impact is that?
Speaker 2 (48:24):
Absolutely inspiring. Thank you so much, Brianna for taking the
lead and for being a part of this committed group
of leaders dedicated to enhancing and supporting projects and clubs
not only locally or nationally, but internationally and throughout the
(48:45):
globe to really leave their mark in their community and
fill a need wherever that need is big or small.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
Oh it's been my pleasure. It's been an honor and
I've been very flattered in honor to get to be
a part of this journey with Day of Service.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
So well, thank you very much, and I will follow
up with you because we will catch up as the
next Epic Day of Service approaches, so we can get
it on the radar and get more to participate and
be a part of such an impactful day around the world.
Speaker 3 (49:15):
Thank you so much, You Bette perfect.
Speaker 2 (49:17):
Everybody listening, don't forget to find us on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn,
and Instagram. Check us out on SCBR talk dot com.
Don't miss my conversation with Hilda Kennedy, who is a
visionary leader dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs and transforming communities through
equitable access to capital. As the founder and president of
(49:38):
AMPAK Business Capital, she has built the nation's faith first,
faith based, mission driven SBA lending group rooted in faith,
integrity and relentless commitment to small business success. Next week,
we will have Naibe Reinoso, a Mexican American multi Emmy
Award winning journalist based in Los Angeles, California, who has
(50:01):
worked and contributed to various regional, national, and international networks
including KTLA France, twenty four Univision Network, Reels Channel, CNN
EN Espanol, The Biography Channel, Fox News Latino. Naibe will
offer an inside look at Latina Fest. At Latina Fest
(50:21):
gears up for its seventh annual celebration on Sunday, June first,
at Gloria Molina Grand Park. This year's powerful theme is
a Legacy, a tribute to the traditions, stories and cultural
richness passed down by our ancestors and a celebration of
the legacy today's Latinas are creating for future generations. We
(50:43):
will see you all next week.
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