6 things G Day is showing me

03 Mar 6 things G Day is showing me

The creative process is always an interesting journey that invariably contains unexpected revelations: bringing G Day to life is no exception. I like to think of myself as a fairly seasoned entrepreneur, however I admit to feeling a bit wobbly at the moment. All the reflections are humbling opportunities for growth, gratitude and learning: here are some of the insights I’m seeing so far.

1) I am deeply uncomfortable with disappointing people and am struggling with taking it personally. For every Mom/parent who asks if they can come too, exception request from parents of 9 and 13 year old girls, people wanting to join our overflowing list of volunteer Circle Leaders and so on: I cringe and wonder whether I’m doing this “right”: it’s a real test of my leadership and clarity of vision.

2) Many of the Moms/parents want to come, too. I honestly didn’t see this one coming, and having now answered numerous requests am seeing that the rationale is twofold: first, wanting to share their daughters’ experience of G Day (of course!), and second (and actually far more prevalent) is the desire to be there for themselves. Upon reflection, it makes perfect sense to me that our inner 11-year-olds are saying “Me too!”

Without making specific promises, I can tell you that there will definitely be a “big girls G Day” coming in 2014 😉

3) Marketing programs for kids to parents is tough. In my “regular” work life I am primarily considering the perspective of mostly-adults making decisions for themselves. Offering programming to children requires a whole new level of detail that, again, I did not see coming, and am further at a loss as to how to express from a prospective attendee’s perspective, particularly since this is the first one. And to think that I am a parent myself: argh! What’s awesome about it is witnessing the beautiful blend of curiosity and protectiveness (aka love) that is the subtext to pretty much every question that I’m getting.

4) The response to to the call for Circle Leaders has been incredible: I mean, incredible. This aspect has a similar feeling to #1, in that it’s a reflection of adult women who are hearing the call of their inner adolescent , as well as connecting to a desire to support the girls, probably in a way that was never offered to them when they were at the same stage. Either way, just reading the applications about why they feel called to gift G Day with an entire day of their time has made my heart explode with gratitude on more than one occasion. Same goes for the G Day Leadership team.

5) What I am not awesome at: admin and keeping track of the details. It’s never fun to have one’s limitations held up at close range, however the positive is that I have never felt so aware of and grateful for the talents of the Lunapads staff (and Suzanne, keeping me on track as always) as I do now. Website updates, ticket sales snafus, application forms, and a multitude of emails: you name it, I probably have no idea how to help, at least when it comes to Lunapads. G Day has brought back the whole front-line sales and customer service experience to me, and in a new era of technology to boot: this is work!

6) Love, love, love!!! The positive response I am getting from pretty much all quarters tells me that G Day is tapping into a larger cultural moment, where old ideas like community-based coming of age celebrations can play a unique and valuable role in supporting  youth in the modern era of urban living, technology and media. Let’s do this!