Embracing Opportunities

This month of April presented our members with challenges and new opportunities. However, our guest speaker, Dan Fulkerson, provided a scope around personal branding, which started off with him asking, "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" As our members went around sharing interests in owning their own business or practice, ultimately, a common theme emerged: the desire to engage with people and set an example for those who come behind.

Dan Fulkerson, also known as the “Bulldog Lawyer” in San Diego, engages in various non-profits and leads with an intimate knowledge of personal branding, where there is an importance of integration of what you love and what you love to do. Dan’s love for bulldogs led to him creating a Law Firm with his business partner, serving as a “build the life you want the way you want” as Dan shared that is how he has gotten to where he is at in his personal and professional life.

Our members were given invaluable feedback around the importance of asking questions and having a desire to learn regardless of the field, while Dan shared there is no freedom in the cycle and encouraged our members to take the risk. Without taking a risk, there is no reward, and that limits your confidence in achieving all that you could achieve. Dan concluded with the understanding of having a plan, and if the demand to change the plan doesn't result in a failure but rather a clean sense of trying something out and it didn't work as you initially planned.

Aside from our monthly meeting, we also had the opportunity to attend two events at Crawford High School, where we shared insights from Young Minds in the Community with the students. We hoped to invite them to join our community and learn more about our members' journeys.

For the first event, our Founder, Emilio, shared how he created the organization and discussed his career journey. The students were highly engaged and participated in various group activities. At the second event, some of our members, Karol and Val, attended to share their journeys and facilitate group activities, to encourage further conversation. We are grateful for the opportunity to invite students to join our community and share our journey with them. Our hope is to inspire them to continue working towards their goals. We also aim to encourage them to join spaces where they can ask questions and receive support.