In the wake of Tony Hsieh’s passing, even though I never met him, I am feeling deeply grateful for his impact on my life.

Ripple effect is real.

Through the experiences and creative collisions he championed with conscious entrepreneurship in downtown Las Vegas with CatslystCreativ.. because Jennifer Boonlorn and Cameron championed me to apply even though the deadline had already passed.. because I championed myself through the feeling that I wasn’t ready or good enough… I got myself there having no clue how that decision and inclusion would impact me and my life big-picture.

At Catalyst, I met Katie Carey Nivard and the Mama Hope team. She, Jenn and I stayed in touch. Five years ago, Katie got us free tickets to C2 Montreal. We just had to get ourselves there. … We got ourselves there.

At C2, we attended an opening dinner with this community called HATCH. Hmm.. what’s *this*, I thought.. haha. I first met Yarrow Kraner, Butterscotch, Mark Brand, Stu Robertson, Tara Baz and so many others.

I felt out of my depth back then just like I did when I applied to Catalyst, but my intuition was entirely clear… I knew in my bones…… something is good here. I wasn’t sure what or why, I just knew I wanted to stay connected with whatever *this* is. Haha sounds funny.. trying to find the words for things our thinking brain can’t process yet.

That intuition led me to the past 5 years of doing exactly that. I applied to HATCH’s Summit that first year and was not selected. That was a good call though, I legitimately wasn’t ready then.

I continued undeterred trusting my strong intuition to stay connected with HATCH over the subsequent years, attending local events, growing relationships with those I met at C2, attending C2 again a second time alone even though that felt really scary, connecting earnestly with even more beautiful, badass people working through Imposter Syndrome to get myself to every single dinner.

In between, I kept growing as a person and professional. I kept showing up in the ways I could as a contributing member of such a supportive community doing such high-impact work in this world.

In 2019, I was ready. It was time. All the work I had put in over the last 5 years added up to me being a different, more confident, clear and connected person. I attended HATCH in Montana for the first time. At that summit, Highlight did our first-ever public demonstration jump kicking off our mission elevating gender equality.

I felt next to no Imposter Syndrome.. I knew I should be there. I felt the peace and electricity my initial intuition already knew.

On top of that, through the support of other HATCHers I also had a major breakthrough in Montana that helped me listen and learn so much more deeply as a white ally, and find my voice standing for racial justice such that I could use it this year with the biggest media I’ve done to date.

Add in further mobilizing the vote in 2020 through HATCH Impact Labs working with suuuuuuper switched-on NextGen’s, the No Vote Left Behind rallies and Global Living Rooms reimagining connection, collaboration and support in the time of Covid and here we are.

Today.

ALL of this… goes all the way back to Tony’s vision.. Tony’s commitment.. Tony’s boots-on-the-ground follow-through to support young, creative, brave people like me all those years ago.

Tony’s leadership by example and willingness to put his money quite literally where he believed positive change was possible.. quite literally into the communities he wanted to transform.. plus my own willingness to dive into those waves starting ripples of my own too.. and here we are.

Today.

There is so much power and possibility in the smallest decisions and biggest leaps, all of which accumulate over time into impact we could literally never actually measure.

Ripple effect is REAL.

If you want to contribute to these kinds of tidal waves of global impact that begin in micro experiences of creative collision and expanding love that become ideas and initiatives executed in our actual world.. consider donating to HATCH this holiday season.

Thank you, Tony. Every bit of my respect and gratitude.