Making Time To Give Back with Sasha Klimov

Hi friends. Today we are gonna chat about one of my favorite things to do - volunteering. When I first moved to NYC, this is how I got to meet a lot of people and it was really nice to find people that were passionate about the same things as me. There are so many ways that we can volunteer and help out our communities and it’s just the right thing to do people! If you can’t remember the last time you volunteered somewhere, then maybe it’s time to volunteer again.

So earlier this summer I went to the Hamptons with some friends and one day we had to rush home from lunch to make it to my friend’s Zoom meeting because he was hosting some sort of showcase for this organization. I’m pleased to introduce Sasha Klimov. Please go back and read that with a fancy British accent. Done? Ok. I met Sasha at the West Side Tennis Club but in all honesty, I’m the biggest snob ever and I hate meeting new people so I wasn’t so sure about this Sasha fellow until I got to know him. Turns out he’s pretty cool and he works with one of my favorite people in the world Charlie Tansill, who is also a kick ass tennis player. So awesome that tennis is so intertwined in my life. Ball is life, I guess?

Sasha (and Charlie) work at Ogilvy New York, which is what they call a full service creative network, aka a badass marketing firm. He started at a small agency in London and now he is here in the best city in the world coming up on 10 years with the firm.

Alright, well when we were in the Hamptons, I knew he had this volunteer thing and that was all I knew about it. To be fair, I was drunk for the majority of that trip so it’s tough to recall some of the details. Just to be sure, I asked Sasha to answer some questions about this specific volunteer experience, so let’s dive in.

I was recommended to Routes In - the organization who set up this initiative in London and Amsterdam - through an ex-girlfriend (who actually worked with me at Ogilvy). They were looking for people to set up and run the New York chapter, and I was looking for ways to give back to the community at the time. Although soup kitchens and pantry charity work was somewhat satisfying, I wanted a way to use the skills I have crafted during my career to help  others achieve success in creative industries.

OMG, yes!!!! This is a common misconception that volunteering has to be some sort of manual labor that you don’t want to do but that it’s necessary… Yeah, no. The best way to volunteer is to give back using the skills that you use on a regular basis because that way you are sharing knowledge but also reinforcing your own knowledge. You all know I love Grey’s Anatomy more than life itself and Dr. Bailey is always saying “See one, do one, teach one.” This is my life motto because first you learn by watching, then by doing and then by teaching. Same thing applies here. Why not help others and also benefit from it yourself? Win-win, hello!

The program interviews 100+ potential mentees from various low-income and diversity programs and initiatives who are looking for ways to hone their passions and work in fields as varied as theatre, design, advertising, technology, art, music, acting, and illustration to name a few.  We then choose up to 20 final mentees each year (this year was the second “class” in NYC) and pair them with mentors chosen specifically for them from the Soho House community. Soho House has been our main partner in New York - it is where we hold our events and we give a year’s free membership to all the mentees to take advantage of the networking and collaboration.

For those of you who live under a rock and don’t know what the Soho House is, it’s this like this exclusive private chain of membership clubs that started in London and now they have locations all over the world. The free membership is kind of a big deal and an awesome incentive to participate in this program. So how are people chosen and what do they really get out of a program like this?

We used a wide array of resources. The goal was connecting with communities to reach young people from diverse backgrounds (education, culture, socio-economic, gender, physical ability etc.) People 'outside the industry bubble'. Examples include Henry Street Settlement, Lower East Side Girls Club, Educational Alliance, Afro Punk Army and Urban Arts Partnership to name a few. 

All of the 34 mentees who have so far graduated from the program have told us about the difference it has made in their confidence, networks, and career development. They have all seen a huge amount of progress with the support given by the amazing mentors and the relationships continue to this day from the class of 2019 which finished that May. Just this week one of the young mentees got accepted at the American University of Paris off the back of the program to study art and literature, and we hear success stories of published books and films at film festivals every month.

Another big concern or “roadblock” for volunteering is finding the time to do it. A lot of people are turned off by the fact that you have to go out of your way to make it work. But if you are doing something you are passionate about and something that is helping you grow too, it becomes less of a chore and more of an activity that you want to do. Good things take time and nothing great ever came easy.

Once the program begins, which for this most recent program was in September 2019, through to the finish, which was in June 2020, the work never really stops. The interviewing is the most time-consuming, as you are scheduling 30 mins around your workday for 2-3 months, and then meeting with your team to choose the final candidates, which can take forever. Then it’s about putting on the events - training sessions, the launch, half-way check-in, then prepping for the final showcase. In between youre trying to support the pairs as much as possible.

Sometimes it’s hard to carve out 30 minutes of your day for yourself but it’s all about reprioritizing and making time for the things that are important to us. I personally know Sasha is a very busy person, yet he made this demanding volunteering work with his schedule and I know he still goes out and plays tennis and travels despite the time commitment. It’s not about if it’s gonna work out but more about making it work out once you have committed to it. One of, if not the best part, about volunteering is how rewarding it is. You saw a few paragraphs up how much of a difference it makes in those people’s lives. Being able to use your skills to create positive change is a feeling that I’ll never get tired of and that makes any volunteering event worthwhile for me.

It requires many hours a week, but I love my team - Cornelius and Kristine - they are the very best and it's a joy to work with them. Cornelius is a super talented creative with SO much heart and Kristine is a mother of two and a brilliant life and executive coach. They are wise, dedicated, and hilarious.

The other best part is of course seeing young people get out of their shells, thrive, and succeed. And when you see the results you know you’re making a difference, which is a nice counterpoint to selling toothpaste and chocolate snacks to people via advertising! And seeing these people create is also an inspiration for me to learn, grow and create myself.

Sounds awesome right? So how can we get involved and will there be more iterations coming up?

Right now we are in a state of re-thinking the program for 2021 and looking for additional partners. We are using the social justice movement for inspiration of how we bring diversity even more front and center, for one. Once we complete this work, we will post updates on how to get involved with hopefully another round of mentorship, but also other resources and events.

You can support Sasha and the Routes In team by following the four Instagram accounts below. It is so easy to support organizations like this by following and engaging with their content with something as simple as a like, comment or share. So if you don’t do anything else, at least do that.

I know it’s hard to find time to do things we like and it can be harder to find time to volunteer for things you’re not interested but the trick here is to find organizations that you’re passionate about and that are advocating for the same things that you feel strongly about. It won’t be like a chore and it will turn into something you love doing. I cannot say enough good things about volunteering. I truly believe it’s something that everyone should make time for — you won’t regret it.

As always, be sure to follow me on Instagram @hangrymarn and subscribe to the newsletter on the home page. Newsletters go out once a month because I’m too lazy to send them out each week. If you know of anyone that would be good to interview for a blog post, please send them my way: hangrymarn@gmail.com. Until next time! xx marn