Navigating the In Between:

Notes & Reflections from a Community Director. 

Throughout this journey, I’ve made several enlightening discoveries,

Diversity in Action: Our community's diversity, more than a claim, was a palpable, vibrant reality. I was reminded of the power of connection and belonging and its importance when aspiring to lead change, and create a better tomorrow. 

Learning as We Go: The project evolved into a process of continuous learning, adapting, and growing. Learning by making really lives in its essence here. 

The Power of Passion: Reconnecting with my core values reinforced the importance of purpose-driven leadership. If put my intentions in alignment with my purpose, I can also find ways of turning my attention into places where it will have the most impact. I have learned how to play in between the spaces of business, value and purpose.

Growth Amidst Challenges: This project was more than an organisational endeavour; it was a personal journey of growth and empowerment. Balancing leadership roles, learning new skills, and embracing the mantra 'hurry slow' enriched my perspective and approach. I realised even more that purpose-driven leadership is not just about direction but also about empathy, inclusivity, and adaptability.

Reaching the community: It has been really challenging to find ways of reaching out to all the community members. I realise that yes, we did reach people and that is amazing; but I still believe there is a vast vacuum in which we haven’t reached as many as we could have. And this is one of the things I want to prioritise - finding the best possible ways for us to reach out and communicate and give as many people as possible the chance to take part and engage. If you read this and feel like you have missed In Between, I am sorry. And I hope we can collaborate to make things better in the future.

As many of you might already know our community member, friend and inspiration to so many people, Chris Rodriguez, has passed away. I know that many of you have met him and that many of you had a personal relationship with him. Recently he was also part of In Between and did a session on The fear of changing career & why you should DEFINITELY do it. I myself have known Chris since he entered our school for the first time in what feels like many, many years ago, starting his journey in the Business Developer Program. 

I want to honour both Chris and his family as integral parts of what the essence of our community is; lifelong learning, connection and belonging. A space to feel safe in trying something new, put something out there and grow with it. This is truly what Chris did all the time. It was what he was doing with the recent In Between session, it was what he was doing when he first joined Hyper Island, and everyday after that. It is what he was doing when he entered the Tedx stage. Every-time he changed career (actually, that is more than 10 times in 10 years). 

One thing that has truly inspired and helped many people including Chris himself, is his 100 days of unemployment exploration. And in connection to being unemployed; one thing he did was that he found a way for himself to practise getting rejected by simply finding easy ways to get rejected on a level that was not so game changing for him. For example, he went to coffee-shops, trying to get away with paying less for the coffee, naturally he got rejected a lot - but actually, sometimes it worked, as with job searching. It was not long after this exploration he found himself being both a content creator in his personal space, as well as a scrum master and product owner in a global company.

Let's celebrate Chris, let's celebrate his braveness and his vulnerability. His willingness to connect with all in between’s, and let's celebrate his smile! 

I understand that questions come on the circumstances and how he passed away, and I can share with you that it was natural causes. I choose to share this here as Chris means a lot to many members of this community. I ask you all to respect and honor him, and his family.