Tell us about that journey for you and what relationships you had to build to get there, what strategies you had to employ for some of these really um big recognitions opportunity

yeah no no thank you for it for the question i think that uh you know us is a big part of it right i think when when i first uh joined the organization uh we were looking at a reach of about 25 000 and now we've got about 150 000 and growing across the country and and and internationally now as well And as that growth happened, it's a combination of strategic outreach.

And then you have folks that are also reaching out, right? Leadership Greater Chicago, which is an amazing civic leadership program.

We have folks like our, you know, First Lady Michelle Obama or Valerie Jarrett and just a list of folks like Andrea Saenz, who leads the Chicago Community Trust and many others.

that that was something that i knew i wanted to be a part of and uh and looking and we start with what's closest to me is is our asset network and had a former board chair of the organization that had been part of that fellowship and and picking his brain asking him questions like who do i need to talk to how do i get into that you know that that fellowship Fast forward, I have several conversations and meeting folks.

We know this is an expensive program as well.

I'm a newer leader at a nonprofit organization.

What did that call feel like? What was the mission they gave you? And what was the decision you made?