In this edition of our Employee Spotlight Series we profile Jeena Joyan, our incredible Major Gifts Manager, who brings heart and purpose to everything she does at THPA.
1. What inspired you to join The Hunger Project Australia?
I’ve always had a soft spot for international aid and wanted to be part of an organisation or a cause that has far reaching impact and globally. And what the Hunger Project does, with its very female focused strategy and its opportunity to be part of programs that absolutely bring about self-reliance for the communities that we support, especially in Africa, was something that was really, really powerful and something that I definitely wanted to be a part of – so that we create a world without hunger in a meaningful, sustainable, and scalable way.
2. What’s the program that’s resonated most with you in your work?
It’d be the Epicentre strategy that the Hunger Project has. This is a really phenomenal strategy that is all about collaboration – to change the mindset of our community partners from I can’t to I can to we can. This strategy of working collaboratively, with local communities, local governments and the global The Hunger Project team, creates opportunities that allow the the people that we’re supporting to be able to rise above and really be the champions and the creators of a different reality to what they’re experiencing now has resonated most with me.
3. What’s one piece of advice you’d want to give to someone who’s looking to make a difference?
Just get involved in whatever area that resonates with you. Find what you love and makes your heart sing…what gives you a sense of “I feel like I am contributing”. And no act, no amount, no consideration of what to do can be underestimated. And if you can do it consistently, because it’s in those small acts and small things, that true difference can be made and the impact can be felt.
Of course, there is that financial opportunity, but it’s also through your skills, through your time, through even just a kind word, an act of kindness, are all ways in which that we can make a change. And if you’re not able to contribute financially to causes, then certainly be an advocate for them. You can use your voice, if nothing else, to be able to be that catalyst to make a difference in someone else’s life or some communities’ existence.
4. What’s the one quote that’s influenced you in your own life?
There was a quote that I came across many years ago by Maya Angelou. She said that “people will forget what you say, people will forget what you do, but they will never forget how you make them feel.”
And so that is something that I try and live by because it’s not in the doing or the saying that people are made to feel something. It’s in the vibrational energy. It’s in the intention behind what you’re, what you’re doing, how you’re conducting yourself. Your presence can have a really, really profound effect on someone else’s day.
5. How do you like to unwind in your free time?
I’d love to say I, curl up with a book or, you know, whatever. But to be honest, I rarely get the opportunity to be able to have unwind time. It’s something I’m working on! But if I had a good block of time, then one of the things that I absolutely love to do, is to pick up my paint brushes and do some painting on a canvas. It’s something that has been part of my childhood. Drawing or getting carried away in the act of creation inspires me.