

Throughout my experience in LR, I was struck with how many of my classmates told me they wanted to be involved with a nonprofit but either didn’t feel passionate about one or didn’t know how to get involved. People are yearning to volunteer and support nonprofits. Your business has the opportunity to attract these vagabonds before they’ve pledged their allegiance to some other brand. They’re looking for their go-to car repair guy, dentist, grocery store, etc. So many people are coming to Raleigh, and once they get here, they’re looking for their new favorite restaurant or brewery. What this means for local business owners is opportunity. Major companies are setting up headquarters and branches here. We’re attracting entrepreneurs who want to be part of a vibrant startup scene. People are flooding into our city unlike anywhere else in the country. But I didn’t even realize how awesome Raleigh was until Leadership Raleigh.

I’ve long been a Raleigh evangelist, telling all of my friends who live in other cities to get their hineys to Raleigh if they want to live happy, fulfilled lives. I made some great connections with a lot of people in my class outside of TEAM 5, but a huge shout out goes to Martha, Pierre, Jason, Tom and Katye! And being placed on Team 5 is among the greatest things to have ever happened to me (right up there with getting married and witnessing the birth of my daughter). While we saw everyone in our class once a month, my project group members were my ride-or-dies. Our group of 50 or so classmates was divided into eight project groups. Here’s a shotgun blast of my top takeaways. And every aspect of the program points back to Raleigh! It provides participants with the opportunity to meet and discuss issues with key community leaders, study the qualities that make an effective leader, and develop personal leadership styles/skills. If you’re interested in being part of the Leadership Raleigh family, applications for the next class are due by June 15.

We’re a couple weeks away from our graduation, and it’s been an incredible ride. I’m good at social media…”īut all of that intimidation and awkwardness is far behind us now. I’m talking wear-a-suit-to-work legit.Īt our class orientation, I met three lawyers, a guy with something like 25 masters’ degrees and an SVP of a bank…in the first 15 minutes. My very first impression of my Leadership Raleigh class (LR34!) was one of intimidation.
