How Spark Makes Connections That Last
Co-Authored by Sarah Fuller-Dinwiddie and Carrie Miller
LEADING UP TO SPARK
I first heard of Spark in a session at the Denver Accelerate. Jon Gorman told the class that a new conference geared toward leadership was coming in the fall, so I wrote it down in my notes to look into more later. I was excited when I got the okay from work to sign up.
I attended Spark in 2022 with my co-worker. I was just a few years into my leadership position and had a lot of ideas but no clue how to execute, was feeling like an imposter, and wanted to connect with people who were in a similar boat. My co-worker had been in her leadership position for close to 30 years.
After moving into a new role in July as Director of Operations, I signed up for the first Spark in November 2022. I had no idea what to expect, what I was wanting to learn more about or really what I was going to be doing as Director of Operations.
The first day at Spark was SCARY. I walked into the opening reception and realized so many there already knew each other.
AT SPARK IN 2022
Fast forward to the next morning at breakfast I saw someone that looked to be about my age at a table, so I joined her to eat.
Through conversation I learned that Carrie was doing things at her agency that I was hoping to do in the future – we continued our conversations throughout our time at Spark and ended up being in some of the same sessions together (Carrie I hope I am remembering correctly – it has been a few years haha)
I met Sarah, and she told me that she was new to her operations position, and this was her first conference to attend. We did end up in some of the sessions together! (Don’t ask me which ones, but I know our paths crossed a lot once we met).
CONTINUING A BOND IN 2023
We connected even more at 2023 Spark in New Orleans. We texted each other leading up to the conference to see when we were both getting there, and we spent a lot of time together during the conference. I could tell that we both were more confident in our roles at this Spark versus the year prior.
At our next Spark in New Orleans, we really got to spend a lot of time talking about what we were doing at our agencies, what was working or wasn’t. Since I had some time to get more comfortable in my role, I was able to get advice from her on how to approach different ideas I had. It’s also nice to have validation from others that are facing the same issues you are or trying to navigate the same agency improvements.
EVEN MORE IN 2024
Then it was time for Accelerate in New Orleans in the spring of 2024. We met up on the first day and got to spend a lot of time together throughout the whole conference. We bounced ideas off of each other, we talked about our roles and our goals, we talked about our lives outside of work. We had such a great time and learned a lot – I think most of the pictures I have from Accelerate are of Sarah and me – ha! I love that we are in similar phases of life and careers and get to have each other to talk things through.
After Accelerate, we started a group chat with a few other friends and periodically text Tik Toks to each other. Sarah and I follow each other on social media. We sometimes text or email each other when we have ideas or questions about how something is done. Sarah referred a vendor to us after we were talking about a problem we are facing in our agency, and she helped field some of our questions about what the process of implementing this vendor would look like.
It is such a blessing to have a friendship within your same career field because they understand what you deal with on a day-to-day basis and I feel like we can reach out to each other any time if we need advice, need to vent, or want to get a second opinion.
Carrie has me completely vested in NetVU – volunteering at this last Accelerate and looking to more opportunities in the future to volunteer. My friendship with Carrie started at breakfast in Cincinnati has been such a blessing and invaluable to me in my career throughout the last few years.
I love the friendship we’ve created and know it will continue to grow. I am excited about the next Spark and wonder what’s next for both of us in NetVU and in our careers.
Join us at Spark in Cincinnati November 3-5. Register here!