Ep 09 Life of Service - Nonprofits - Kiwanis and Key Club

My name is Zaakirah, and you are listening to the Living Legacy Podcast. I am a brand cultivating strategist, a cancer survivor, and a camera saved my life. In this podcast, we'll be sharing stories of the very connections that I have as a professional photographer, featuring women that I admire that run businesses and are wives, entrepreneurs. They're also parents. And lo and behold, you never know, I may interview some of my favorite men. In this podcast, you will learn about professionalism, you learn about business, you learn about travel. And now it's my turn to teach you and inspire you to step outside of your comfort zone. Today's episode is all about service. I will share my history with Kiwanis, Key Club, and nonprofits. As an only child, my mom taught me how to share, how to share my toys, my music, My food, my time, etc. The older I got, the easier it became. The older I got, the easier it became to give. I talk more about this in another episode, but combined with my love language, my DISC profile, my Enneagram, and my personality type, it's a given that service is inevitably a part of my life. I am that big-hearted empath that wears my heart on my sleeve. My love language is any one of the 5 on a given day, but the biggest is quality time. My DISC profile is inspiring and supportive. My Enneagram is Type 2. I'm a helper. And my personality type is IFPT. So either it could be an IFPA or there could be an ISFT. As a Muslim, charity is one of our 5 pillars of our religion of Islam. I talked more about what those other 4 pillars are in a previous episode that I did with my dad. Charity becomes more prominent during the holy month of Ramadan. It's more so common for women because if you are unable to fast or sustain from eating and drinking from sunup to sundown for the 30 days in the month, then you should be charitable. It could be monetary or it could be a matter of giving your time. And being there for someone in need, someone who's sick, or is it simply serving or making food for those who are fasting or are also just less fortunate? Now, for me, because of my history with PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrome, which is also something I talked about in a previous episode, I end up doing more charity than fasting. It almost became like taking a breath for me as far as being charitable. It's very common for women, especially if you're on your menstrual cycle or pregnant, because those are the times you should not be fasting. Of course, it qualifies for either women or men. As a Muslim, if you cannot sustain from eating, then you should be more charitable. My first real paid job was as a summer camp counselor in middle school. No, I was not 16 years old yet. It was a part of vocational orientation training skills, life skills. So they were able to combine it with paying us biweekly that allowed us to also learn how to utilize a bank account. That was such an exciting job for me because I was able to be of service. Even though I was a summer camp counselor, I was able to be of service in many other ways. I was able to be a listener. Back in middle school, I considered being a psychologist because so many people just naturally flocked to me with their problems seeking advice. But, in high school, I became a member of Key Club, which is the high school portion of Kiwanis International. So, I went to 2 different high schools. The first high school, I became a member and even though I ran for secretary, to be a secretary in my sophomore year, so I was a member during my freshman year and during my sophomore year, I ran to be a secretary. Even though I did not win that election, My, uh, the club advisor or the, you know, the teacher who looked out for us as a school club saw potential in me and pulled me aside basically and asked me if I wanted to be the class president, which basically means I was in charge of all of the sophomores. So, I wasn't the president of the club, but I was the president of all of the sophomores. And it was a huge school, a huge group. So, even though I did end up going to a different high school and starting You know, my own chapter of Key Club when I moved to Fort Lauderdale, 'cause the first one was in Tampa. I just stayed with Key Club. If you're still wondering what Key Club is, it has nothing to do with making keys or door keys of any kind. But I do believe that service is the key to life and kindness is the key to life. So, that's where you can kinda make that dot of it being a service club. But then, after high school, as a young adult, I became a member of Kiwanis, but I became a member of the Young Adults Kiwanis Club in Washington, D.C. area. There, I was able to be a chapter leader for the fundraising program that they were just beginning with called Eliminate. So, it's Eliminate MNT, which is maternal and neonatal tetanus, which is a bacterial disease that can affect joints and is very common in third world countries. But, the year that I graduated high school, I still wanted to be of service while I was still taking my gap semester. I still wanted to see how I could still be of service while still incorporating my photography, my love for photography, my photography skills. I was Googling ways to be of service as a photographer. And that's where I learned about Hell Portrait and the photographer named Jeremy Kower. Who happened to be based in the Nashville area. And, he founded it in 2008. Since then, it has been an international sensation. It's been an international event. It's supposed to be an annual event the first Saturday of December. But, sometimes people love it so much that they do it on a regular basis, every holiday. Photographers, volunteers, makeup artists, hairstylists, come together to take a professional picture for people in need, the less fortunate, the homeless, those who have not had a professional picture in a while. And that's just an exhilarating experience. You know, it's all about giving the experience of professional photography for free. We don't charge. I mean, it's not a discount. It's none of that. It's literally one day only for free. And some people, you know, it's an amazing thing for people to come up to you thanking them— thanking you so much because they haven't seen what they look like or they're so happy that they get to share proof of their journey to recovery with their family through a picture. Or they can look back on this moment because they've had a huge health scare. And those moments are always amazing. I became one of those people who always would just give to the homeless or the less fortunate whenever I could. If I knew about a food bank, I would go there. Those were my most exciting service projects, the ones where I could interact with people. I love, you know, cleaning up trash, which is a great time to be outside and get some exercise, but I really love the service projects where I can interact with people. Of course, there was a point in my life where I would question like, okay, should I really give this homeless man money? Is he really homeless or is he just gonna use the money for drugs? But then it took me some growing up to realize that, you know, my intentions are pure and what happens Between them, what they do with the money, it's literally between them and their God, you know. My next real job came after high school. And what I mean by real job is, as an entrepreneur, it's different to get a paycheck that you know is coming. So a monthly or even a biweekly paycheck that you know is coming. After I finished my second photography program in Washington, D.C., My next real job was with Operation Crossroads Africa. Now, that was a monthly paycheck, but it was— they're also a nonprofit organization. I've talked about them also in a previous episode, so be sure to check that out to learn more about them. But because they are a nonprofit, I wore many hats. I was a photographer for their orientation, their annual orientation, which is always held in New York. I was a communications associate for the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia Alumni Association. I was also a videographer because at one point they— I just believed that they needed an updated and a color version of a promo video. I was also their social media marketer. I helped them to create their Twitter and Instagram and Pinterest pages. And then I was also their email manager because I helped them to utilize email a bit more. I then also became their product because they've been around for so long that there were so many things that I felt were outdated, and there's so many amazing apps and tools and resources out there that could help them be more seamless and make the processes less stressful. So I also became an advisor, and I was also a member of the 60th anniversary gala committee. But just being with Operation Crossroads Africa really opened a lot of doors for me. You know, they were my first— they trusted me so much. They were really my first— Mentor. Real clients as far as social media goes, as far as having a lot of more video photography work, as well as accreditation for being an email manager. Even though I'm so grateful for the present and where I came from with Crossover, because I began simply as a volunteer, I look forward to being a group leader, to lead, you know, a group of 8 to 10 students to either my husband's country of The Gambia Or to a new country in Africa as a part of my goal to visit 30 African countries by the age of 30. Right, yeah, I'm not 30 yet. Crossroads meant so much to me as a paid job because my love for Africa grew as a volunteer first when I traveled to Ghana in 2011. I'm also the type of person to give away my old clothing items or my old electronics To friends, families, or even companies similar to Goodwill, Salvation Army, before I think about selling it. I am not exactly a hoarder, but I just know that if I don't like my shoes, that I don't feel like I can wear a certain clothing item anymore, I don't— and it's not completely— it doesn't have a huge hole or a huge stain on it, I know that somebody else will be even more grateful for it because they have had not had it. You know, in a while. They have not had shoes in a while and have not had sneakers in a while. I have not had a dress shirt in a while. So I, you know, think twice before throwing away. That kind of charitable mentality also stayed with me when it comes to recycling. Like, I loved back when I was living in, you know, Florida and D.C., with being able to just kind of conserve the earth in that way. My favorite quote by Muhammad Ali Service is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth. And I truly believe that is the best way to make it in this life. You know, of course, love is always the answer. Love always wins. But then there's always service. You know, being charitable, thinking about one another, being selfless. That's the only way to really make it because you can truly never make it entirely on your own. Even though your parents gave birth to you and even though you may, unless you will be surrounded by friends and family, I mean, you're never truly going to be alone. So, you know, it really does not have to be lonely climbing up the ladder to success. My first few jobs always involved interacting with people and being of service. One of the 9 guiding rules of my part-time job is service. So no matter what I do, no matter where this life takes me, I try to always incorporate Service with all of my jobs, no matter what I do, whether it's as a photographer, as a brand cultivating strategist, as a woman. If you want to donate or volunteer your time to any of the organizations mentioned in this podcast, you can visit help-portrait.com, operationcrossroadsafrica.org, and kiwanis.org. This episode is brought to you by Patreon. If you would like to continue hearing weekly original content, please consider donating and becoming a patron. All pledge levels provide funding for content creation for the Living Legacy podcast and video series. Pledging will give you immediate access to all content. Pledge whatever amount you're comfortable with. I like the idea of having an ongoing intimate membership with you, the listeners of Living Legacy podcast. This is your chance to support the brand and all that will be creative out of the success of this podcast. Visit patreon.com/livinglegacy. This podcast is paid for by listeners like you. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Living Legacy Podcast. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher. You can also leave us a message at 615-475- 757-05, and your message just may be featured on the next episode. Be sure to subscribe, follow, and download so you don't miss the next episode. If you want to learn more, you can visit zaakirahnayyar.com. That's Z-A-A-K-I-R-A-H-N-A-Y-Y-A-R dot com. Do you have any suggestions on a topic you want to be talked about? Send me an email or leave them in a review. If you love this episode, be sure to share it with your friends. Some days kids can be all. Other times they can get a little. That's childhood, and that's why kids need Kiwanis. Our 600,000 members worldwide support the development and imagination of kids wherever they are. Every day. Because nothing sounds better than a child with a future. See how kids around the world are heard at Kiwanis.org. Kiwanis.org.