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Today’s guest is a community organizer at heart. Within a few years of graduating from Brandeis University, he has established himself as a major player in Boston’s social impact community. His career began as an associate at MassChallenge where he learned the importance of community building. He later joined Opportunity Nation as a national organizer around economic mobility issues and then Yesware as a customer success manager. Currently he is the Executive Director of City Awake, a nonprofit organization focused on building the ecosystem of civic engagement and social innovation throughout Greater Boston. Established in 2014 City Awake hosts an annual 10 day festival with nearly 100 community events and supported by over 200 organizational partners.
He has been recognized by the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, and the City of Boston for his work highlighting the city as a social impact hub. He is also on the Massachusetts board of Generation Citizen, an active Big Brother, and was a 2013 New Leaders Council Fellow.
Please join me in welcoming Justin Kang.
In this episode we explore:
- his thoughts on leadership – “Ultimately, I think leadership is self-awareness, understanding the skills that you have and can focus on, but also seeing what skills other people have and how to empower them to give their best.”
- how he was able to take what he saw work in the tech industry in Boston and apply it to the social impact sector,
- the importance of mentors and being encouraged at an early age to step out of his comfort zone,
- how he spends his Sundays – a feat for any hardworking leader
Stay tuned until the end of the episode to hear what I thought were the key take-aways you could put into practice this week and benefit from for years to come.
LINKS
- Justin Kang on LinkedIn and Twitter
- City Awake website and Twitter
- Learn more about New Leaders Council – Boston.
- Contactually (free 30 day trial) – questions about this? I'm happy to help you get set up for success.
- @RobbieSamuels on Twitter and Instagram
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- New to my website? Start here.
- Hire me to speak at your company: learn about my Art of the Schmooze session on inclusive networking and the other sessions I offer.
- On the Schmooze podcast archive
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Podcast guest suggestions welcomed. Email me your ideas.
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