The Difference Makers
By: Joseph Agoada
Tags: Mentorship, Inspiration, Nonprofit, Impact, Jobs

Photo Credit: João Jesus

In the first six months of 2020 I progressed professionally far past what I struggled to do in my career over the fifteen years prior. What changed?

The thing that launched me beyond past failures was not a big dollar investment or major news story or viral social media post. It was a group of people that shared their wisdom, knowledge and skills with me.

A Special Group

Near the end of 2019 I had decided to test the waters on starting-up a new nonprofit and sent out a message to a number of people about the idea, thinking a few might reply.

The response was overwhelming. I got dozens of responses, and many gave critical, sometimes cutting, feedback. However, no matter how tough that was, it was not discouraging, it was genuine, and instead of demoralizing it was fuel to the fire to breakthrough to something great.

I reached out to a select group of individuals who replied and had purpose-driven careers in the field I wanted to work in. These people understood the present moment I was in, but also had knowledge of my past and shared in the vision for the future I wanted to create.

Their inputs gave me determination to keep improving and iterating on the vision for this new organization. It took longer than I expected, but I finally arrived at something that felt extraordinary.

Then momentum started to build.

Fueling the Launch

First it was seed funding. Next was formalization of the organization, quietly, without any fanfare. Nonprofit 501c3 status was granted in February of 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was starting to hit.

In the past moving towards my career goals felt like swimming up against a powerful river current. Now I was in the right place at the right time, being carried downstream.

The work would have just been a nice project and not advanced past my individual effort, but if not for another group of people that rallied beside me.

The confluence of events around COVID-19 created a spark that brought together like-minded individuals that resonated with the mission of the new organization, to save lives by serving organizations on the frontlines of public health emergencies.

Even though we would be entering uncharted territory together during a chaotic time and there was no guarantee of long term stability, the group joined up with dedication.

Leaping Forward

Within weeks we had a meaningful project off the ground that was being adopted in one city to fight against COVID-19. Then funding came in to scale that impact across the United States. This rapid, early success slingshotted me across the threshold to a place closer to my career goal of breaking significant new ground in social impact than I’ve ever been before.

The two groups of supporters, the initial advisers and start-up team had something in common: the ability to empower others to reach their personal goals. It started with them advancing me towards my goal, and now together we have a mission to help public health workers who put their lives at risk to reach towards their best ideas to make the world a healthier, safer place.

Thanks to my difference makers, there is no more question if I will reach my career goal, it’s about how many others we can help do the same.

New Posts Every Wednesday

Older Posts in Series

Welcome to the End of Normal — The unprecedented events of 2020 have destroyed every notion of what “normal” means. What comes next?

The Harmful Doubt that Hold Us Back — We have very little problem pushing back on the ideas of others but it seems impossible to pursue our own ideas. Why is that?

Navigating Broken Systems — Over years of work I had learned how to navigate a broken system. I repeatedly chose a situation that was making me unhappy, simply because I understood it.