A Stroll With Nicole
This week, we have the pleasure of chatting with @mynameisnicole about the definition of leadership, how to maintain and grow subcommunities, and mentoring. We hope you enjoy!
Hi Nicole, thanks for doing this Living with Leaders Interview! What makes you a leader in our community?
Hi, it was my pleasure thank you for the opportunity Elliot. I would say what makes me a leader is dedicating time and effort into working towards the growth of our community.
***I don’t think being a leader only has to do with being in appointed roles, but lending a hand to all you come across who need it.
You've recently begun an interview series called the Inclusivity Diaries as a part of Disability Support. In what ways do you feel that these interviews support your community?
Well, the interview series is a chance to give members of the disability support sub-community a spotlight to share their personal experiences and insights. Our community is strengthened by uplifting others, listening to their stories, and learning more about the members of our community. I also think that it’s a form of representation, in a way that others who have similar experiences feel validated and acknowledged.
You're also a mentor! Tell us about any experiences you had with mentors when you were a newbie, and what made you want to become a mentor yourself.
When I first became a listener in 2021, I had two wonderful mentors. I still see them around in our community, and I wonder if they remember how they made a valuable impact in my journey. I learned how to navigate the site, about active listening, and I got a practice mock chat and a verifying mock chat from my mentors. They were awesome.
It didn’t actually occur to me to become a mentor simply because I was mentored. I took my time exploring different roles, and learning from other people. When I finally did become a mentor, it was because I felt ready. I had matured in my journey, and I knew I was capable of supporting new listeners in their own journey.
As a forum specialist, you know the ins and outs of effective communication in forums. How is the atmosphere different there vs chatrooms or 1-1s? What challenges and benefits does this bring?
I personally adore the forums. I don’t know why, it reminds me of a community blog in some sort of way. I would say the atmosphere is different from the chatrooms or 1-1 chats because it’s not rushed. When you make a forum post, it’s able to age– like fine wine. Even after many days, months and even years, that post is still relevant, it’s still alive. That’s one of the benefits, a challenge would be that you may not get feedback as fast as you want it to. Some people may also find difficulty in navigating the forums, so they may need help. Those are the only challenges I can think of; a slower response time and difficulty finding information if not experienced.
For anyone else in subcommunity leadership positions, what are your tips for building community?
Engagement. It’s important to discuss the topics listed in your sub-community, because that’s why it was created in the first place. Engage with your members, make creative posts, have community discussions, and create sub-forums where members can share their opinions, ideas and resources.
I understand that sometimes it may seem you have no audience, and I want to emphasize on
not neglecting the existing audience you have trying to get more.
For those wanting a larger audience, I would say regular hosting in the chat rooms, advertising your community and alerts to share your posts/discussions with other members on 7 Cups.
Collaboration is also a good way, especially when it’s a related sub-community. Depression support and Anxiety Support go well together– as do Student and Career go well with Relationship and Friendship Support.
You should also add your community taglist to every post made for events, and even during discussions. This way, people interested in your sub-com can be tagged in future posts.
If you were to change your username from mynameisnicole to mynameis_____, what word would you pick that describes an important characteristic you have as a listener and a leader?
This is a funny question, especially because when I was signing up I didn’t want to forget my username– so I just wrote my name. If I were to change it, it probably won’t be with the ‘mynameis’ prefix but something more creative. I think @ASilentObserver has a wonderful username, so it would probably be inspired by that. A characteristic I could use might be ‘calm’ or ‘resilient’. I want to say ‘observant’ but you already know where I got that from.
A huge thanks to @mynameisnicole for taking the time and effort to work on giving us such magnificent insight into her work here on Cups and giving tips!
Learn more about this series here
[ @Dallady @HealingTalk @MyNameIsNicole @SkylarListens @ThoughtfulBlossom @WarmLightXO @Zarram77 ]