If I offer my younger self one piece of advice about giving back, it is this: treat community engagement as a strategic lens, not an extracurricular activity. In my work today, designing outreach portfolios, building coalitions, and shaping corporate responsibility strategies, I see every day how early exposure to service sharpens your understanding of how systems operate and where they fall short. Engaging in service grounds you in the realities behind the metrics. When I partner with nonprofits or map community needs, I rely on instincts that come directly from what service teaches: listen before acting, validate assumptions with lived experience, and align resources with what communities actually ask for. Those habits are not abstract values; they are operational principles that determine whether a program succeeds or simply performs well on paper. The data reinforces this. Deloitte's research shows that employees who volunteer are 2.3 times more likely to report strong leadership skills, and companies with robust community engagement programs experience higher trust and lower turnover. Studies across the ESG and CSR landscape consistently demonstrate that organizations investing in authentic community partnerships outperform peers on long term resilience and reputation. I see that dynamic play out constantly, community engagement is not a "nice to have," it is a strategic differentiator. Service also shapes the leader I am now. It trains you to see inequities clearly, to understand the interdependence between institutions and communities, and to design solutions that reflect real conditions rather than assumptions. Those are the exact muscles I use every day in corporate responsibility work: systems thinking, humility, accountability, and a commitment to measurable, community driven impact. So, in the present tense, the advice stands: giving back is not just generosity. It is professional formation. It is the foundation for becoming the kind of leader who treats community not as a stakeholder group, but as a partner in building equitable, sustainable outcomes.
I would tell my younger self to use your skills to support small local businesses early on. Helping a neighborhood beauty clinic or retail shop with marketing shows that community impact is more than hitting KPIs. When you see real customers walk through doors you helped open, the work becomes personal and keeps you motivated. That experience shapes values around empathy, accountability, and long-term relationships. It teaches you to measure success by the livelihoods you strengthen, not just the numbers on a dashboard.
I'd tell my younger self that giving back is not an extra task, it's how you build the kind of community you want to live in, especially when you work with children and families as I do now. Volunteering would have taught me earlier that trust is built in small, consistent acts, showing up for local schools, supporting new parents, and making safety education feel welcoming instead of scary
In the nonprofit fundraising world, I've learned that giving back isn't an extra; it's how you learn what matters. If I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be to volunteer sooner and make it a regular habit. It would have helped me choose experiences that build perspective, not just a resume. When you show up in-person, you stop guessing what a community needs. You start listening, and you get close enough to understand the real problems people are trying to solve. That kind of exposure changes you because you see the stakes up close. That kind of service would have shaped my values earlier around humility and staying open-minded. You figure out quickly that you do not know it all, and you get better at learning from others. You also build a deeper respect for the people doing the work every day with limited time and resources. It's the same mindset that later helped me work closely with nonprofit teams and build based on real feedback. When you feel invested in someone else's mission and success, you build and lead differently. It pushes you to simplify things, remove friction, and follow through with real support.
I'm with Gotham Artists, a boutique speaker bureau, and honestly, the advice I'd give my younger self is pretty straightforward: don't sit around waiting until you feel "successful enough" or "established enough" to start giving back. Just start early, because volunteering is actually where you figure out what you genuinely value—way faster than any job will teach you.Early in my career, I was completely focused on building skills and moving forward professionally. I had this idea that I'd give back to the community later on, once I had more experience under my belt or felt like I had something valuable to offer. That was backwards.When I eventually did start volunteering—helping some local nonprofits with their communications and storytelling—it clarified things for me way faster than any professional role ever had. Like, it cut through all the noise immediately.Here's why that matters: when you're working without a paycheck or any career advancement attached to it, it strips away all the ego and optics that usually cloud everything. I discovered pretty quickly that I actually cared way more about doing meaningful work than doing work that sounded prestigious. I cared more about building real relationships than about being efficient and transactional. And I cared more about helping other people succeed than I did about hitting my own career milestones.Those values—which I couldn't have clearly articulated before volunteering showed them to me—now shape basically everything about how I approach my work at Gotham. How we market ourselves, how we build partnerships, how we work with clients. All of that comes from values I discovered through service work, not through climbing the career ladder.If I'd actually engaged in that kind of service earlier in my career, I would've understood my own priorities way sooner. I probably would've made better decisions about what roles to take, what companies to work for, what kind of work to focus on developing. Instead, I figured all that out gradually through years of trial and error.Volunteering isn't just about helping your community—though obviously that matters. It's also this surprisingly fast and honest way to learn who you actually are when there's literally nothing in it for you personally except the work itself.My advice is pretty simple: give back before you feel ready to. The clarity you gain about yourself is honestly just as valuable as whatever impact you're making in the community.
The one piece of advice I'd give my younger self is this: don't wait until you're "successful enough" to give back. Start early, even in small ways. When you're building a career or a business, it's easy to think impact comes later, after growth, revenue, or recognition. In reality, engaging in service early helps ground you. It shifts your focus from short-term wins to long-term responsibility and reminds you that skills, time, and attention are just as valuable as money. If I had volunteered or contributed more consistently earlier on, it would have shaped my values faster. I'd have developed deeper empathy, stronger listening skills, and a clearer sense of purpose beyond business metrics. Giving back has a way of reframing success. It teaches humility, reinforces accountability, and keeps you connected to real human needs, which ultimately makes you a better leader, not just a better professional.
I would tell my younger self that giving back is not optional, it's formative. Early service would have taught me empathy sooner and shaped how I lead under pressure. At PuroClean, helping families after losses showed me that impact matters more than recognition. Volunteering builds patience and perspective. It also sharpens decision-making. Serving others early would have grounded my values faster and influenced how I measure success today.
If I could talk to my younger self, I would say start giving back sooner because it will shape who you are. My years with Buenas Vidas Youth Ranch since the mid-70s taught me that steady commitment can change lives, including your own. Being around the youth there made me listen more, judge less, and focus on showing up. It grounded my values in service, patience, and responsibility. Giving your time to the community does not slow you down; it gives your work purpose.
I would tell my younger self this: giving back is not something you do after you make it. It is something that keeps you grounded while you are still figuring life out. If I had started volunteering earlier, I think it would have shaped my values in a quieter but stronger way. You stop seeing people as labels and start seeing them as real stories. You also learn gratitude without forcing it, because you meet people who are working twice as hard with half the support. A simple example is spending a few hours a week helping students with resumes or interview practice. You realize how one small push can change someone's confidence. That kind of service would have made me less self focused, more patient, and more aware of how much we all rely on each other.
I would tell my younger self that service teaches leadership long before authority ever does. Volunteering places you in situations where influence grows from trust rather than position. These experiences shape values like humility and collaboration through real shared responsibility. They also push you to listen better and respect people beyond titles and roles. Community work would have challenged my ideas about speed efficiency and what success means. When outcomes affect real lives shortcuts lose meaning and careful choices matter more daily. Those lessons could have shaped my ethics earlier and placed responsibility at the center. Giving back would have helped me measure growth by positive change, not just results over time.
I would tell my younger self that service is the fastest way to understand real consequences. Early career choices often feel distant from real people and outcomes. Volunteering removes that distance and makes impact visible. Working with communities shows how small choices can shape real experiences. That awareness builds accountability and reshapes values over time. Giving back teaches the importance of access and usefulness over novelty. Service also builds patience because progress often comes slowly. Those habits strengthen long term thinking and guide better decisions throughout growth.
I'd tell my younger self that giving back isn't a distraction from your goals, it sharpens them. Helping others early on would have grounded me, given me perspective, and built empathy sooner. It changes how you define success and reminds you that impact isn't only about what you build, but who you support along the way.
I'd tell myself that giving back isn't just about helping others, it's also about shaping who you become. Service teaches humility, empathy, and gratitude in ways nothing else can. If I had started volunteering earlier, I think I would have learned sooner that success isn't measured only by personal achievements. It's about lifting others up and being part of something bigger than yourself. That perspective changes how you lead, how you work, and how you treat people every day.
If I could talk to my younger self, I would advise him to start giving back, even in small ways, sooner. There is something about service that tends to bring you back to planet earth. It makes you look beyond yourself and your ambitions. It really puts into perspective that success is more rewarding when you pull others along with you. I think that volunteering earlier in my life would have cultivated my empathy and patience more deeply. It teaches you to genuinely listen, value diverse experiences, and measure success not by metrics but by people's lives and how you impact them. That is a philosophy essential to leadership. Deep need understanding makes better teams and makes better leaders. It makes work meaningful.
I would say give back early and often. The advice to my younger self would be, Focus on the impact of community service. Getting involved in volunteering develops empathy and self awareness. It's not just about helping others, it's about enriching your own life. Dedicating time to a specific cause, you create a connection and find your passion. As per research it's clear that individuals who volunteer regularly get to enjoy enhanced mental and physical health, low stress level and enhanced social skills. This engagement allows collaboration, ensuring a stronger, more resilient community. With every act of service you create a momentum. Small contributions lead to big change, supporting quality of life for all involved. Take the opportunity to give back, it lets you build a sense of purpose which shapes your value for a lifetime.
Volunteering and giving back to the community doesn't just help the people you're serving; it also shapes who you are as a person and builds your character, values, and morals. Through service, you gain empathy and begin to see the world from perspectives beyond your own. It teaches you the importance of selflessness and helps you appreciate the things you may have once taken for granted. Fostering this sense of gratitude allows you to approach life mindfully, recognizing the privileges and opportunities you have been afforded while understanding that not everyone has had the same advantages. Volunteering can also help you learn new skills and discover passions you never knew you had, whether it's organizing events, teaching, or social advocacy. Over time, these experiences make you kinder, more thoughtful, and better-rounded.
Especially as an online, SaaS business, it can be easy to forget that we are actually rooted in the community where we operate. We do all of our work through screens and we have customers all over the globe, but we wouldn't be here without genuine connections at the local level. We were struggling to gain traction and find customers when we first launched, until I had a conversation with a local coffee shop owner who was trying to bring her marketing efforts online in a more serious way. By the end of that conversation, we had our first small business customer. They became the template for our target market, as well as a source of plenty of referrals.
I would tell my younger self that giving back builds perspective faster than any business lesson. Engaging with the community would have taught me empathy earlier and grounded my decisions beyond short term wins. Service shapes values that carry into leadership.
I would tell my younger self this: building a business isn't just about creating value for customers and shareholders--it's about recognizing that your success is built on the foundation of your community, and you have a responsibility to strengthen that foundation for others. When I started Fulfill.com, I was laser-focused on solving logistics problems for e-commerce brands. I believed that if I just built the best product and served customers well, that was enough. What I didn't fully appreciate then was how much community engagement would sharpen my understanding of real problems and make me a better leader. Here's what I wish I'd understood earlier: volunteering and giving back aren't separate from building a successful company--they're integral to it. When you engage with your community, you develop empathy at scale. You see challenges from perspectives you'd never encounter in boardrooms or on Zoom calls. I've learned more about operational efficiency from volunteering at food banks than from some business books. Watching organizations do incredible work with limited resources taught me lessons about creativity and resourcefulness that directly influenced how we built Fulfill.com's marketplace model. The service mindset also fundamentally changes how you approach business relationships. At Fulfill.com, we connect brands with fulfillment partners, and I've found that the most successful partnerships happen when both parties approach the relationship with a service-first mentality--asking "how can I help you succeed?" rather than "what can I extract from this deal?" That mindset came from community work, not business school. If I'd started giving back earlier, I think I would have built a stronger company culture from day one. The values you practice in service--collaboration, humility, putting others first--are the same values that create thriving workplaces. I've watched team members grow tremendously through our volunteer initiatives, developing leadership skills and perspective that make them better at their jobs. The most important lesson: your business will inevitably face difficult moments. The relationships and goodwill you build through genuine community engagement become a reservoir of support and perspective that sustains you. Give back not because it's good PR, but because it makes you a better human and a better business leader.