Continuous Improvement (Kaizen)
Content Creation, Outreach, Building Skills, grandma mode activated, etc!
December, January & February’s updates all in one!
Hi! I’m Gloria, a passionate Kenyan creator who loves expressing themselves & creating projects in tech (currently, Web 3), sports and the sciences. Welcome! :)
Timeline
December 2023:
Jersey2Africa Football Workshop
Top 5 in the Meta X The Knowledge Society (TKS) Fall Challenge
Holidayyyy
January 2024:
Officially joined the Creator Now community
Apply, apply & more applications
Effective Altruism brainpod with Vibuti & Yashvee
February 2024:
YouTube Shorts MadeForYou Program
Daily Intentional Outreach
Social Media Marketing Course
Women In Soccer Career Conference
Global Citizen Year Program Experience
Turned 18, yay. (grandma mode activated)
Creating and experimenting with Photoshop & Premier Pro for the 1st time!
December 2023:
Jersey2Africa, you probably remember this organization from my last newsletter in November. If not, fear not (sorry, that was cringe hahaha). It’s a Jersey-based non-profit organisation dedicated to improving young lives in Africa on and off the field
In early December, I managed to attend a day of their week-long workshop. It was my 1st time attending a football workshop, took place in an area I had never heard of and was about an hour's drive from home not including hectic Nairobi traffic but worth it
Ricky, the Founder of Jersey2Africa is such a great guy, inspiring work he’s doing. Not only did I get a new perspective but I met people like Martha by chance - she was the 3rd trailblazer I interviewed months before for a 14thgunner series. Small world.
Unofficial Woman in STEM right here! The laptop I’m currently using loves collecting dusk but now I know how to deal with it. Following some random Nigerian guy on YouTube explaining how to open up the laptop and clean it. He scared me at some points cause what he did wasn’t working and I was stuck with him but thankfully he actually had the solution steps after all the jump scares hahaha.
Holiday modeeee! This affected The Knowledge Society’s (TKS) Challenge progress. My body knows, as soon as mid-November arrives - holiday mode, no questions asked.
This time, oh boy, I was working till 2 days before Christmas and struggling to get a Wi-Fi network in the countryside. When I rested, I felt guilty of being a terrible non-communicative teammate but when I was working, I felt like a workaholic since my family & friends were relaxing and having fun together. Confusing but fun times.
The Knowledge Society (TKS) hosted a Fall Challenge. They managed to get in contact with Meta and Google employees to set real-life problem statements for us to solve.
It was my 1st challenge, scary but my team made the experience memorable especially, our bubbly Project Manager Shelly! Jhanvi pulled enough all-nighters and Maryam practiced and sent the final presentation overview video. Thanks to them, we managed to be one of the 5 teams that got to present live to 2 Meta Oversight Board members and get instant pure feedback from them. Ending the year on a high!
HAPPY NEW YEARRRR!
January 2024:
Finally joined the Creator Now community! I’m just in my 3rd month (March) and it is TRULY the best place for YouTubers that want to grow. A chill community of other passionate creators helping each other with feedback & general support!
Check out 14thgunner’s and minusastra’s YouTube channels for good luck!
Apply, apply & more applications. fun. Good thing I set a goal to fail at least once a month, I’m surely hitting that goal. To be fair, most college applications and summer internship decisions aren’t out yet but I’m increasing my chances by intentionally applying to positions/programs I’m passionate and skilled in!
Brainpod with Vibhuti & Yashvee. Such a great almost 3-hour-long thoughtful chat on Effective Altruism - finding the best ways to help others, and put them into practice. We also honestly gave opinions on controversial life-or-death scenarios
February 2024:
Graduated from the YouTube Shorts Program after 3 months of programming! Got a community manager, yet to properly interact with her. Soon, I’ll be attending the in-person Kenyan graduation. I’m nervous & excited, I don’t know who will be there yet.
To build up my skills around content creation, it was a no-brainer to apply to a social media marketing program made by Wowzi - a well-known African brand in the creator economy and SwahiliPot - a well-known coastal youth-focused organization
A 2-day course - the shortest course I’ve ever taken. The training had useful information but at some points, the things they taught in content creation were things I already knew. I still paid attention and listened with an open mind. 7/10 experience.
As a night owl, I LOVED THIS. (fun fact: i’m typing this at 3:01 am). Living in Kenya is a pro and con regarding women’s football (soccer). Pro - there is so much room for improvement and development! Con - you miss most if not all the cool football events. This time, I didn’t miss the Women In Soccer (WIS) Career Fair.
Saw it 2 days before it began and immediately changed my schedule. It was so worth it! Met cool founders of organizations I’ve been following up on, experienced content creators that I aspire to pass their incredible level and eager newbies finding their way into the soccer industry. It was such a chill and insightful 2 days, so grateful!
Also, I’ve been doing a lot of outreach recently. Disliked it at first. I had no idea what I wanted from a conversation/call but now prepared with a beneficial topic for both parties. It’s great to cringe at past mistakes I made and see the growth over time!
Global Citizen Year is a 4-day challenge that helps young leaders globally to build positive bridges between diverse cultures! In short, you get to travel the world in the comfort of your bedroom. Missing out travelling but still is fun! I was shocked by how international my cohort was. 1st time to talk to & make friends with a Maltese!
Recently turned 18 (grandma mode activated) and had to have an Arsenal cake!
I gifted myself Photoshop & Premier Pro. I love creating and these tools can make it easier to make posts. Here’s my proudest design so far, videos are yet to come!
Tried to recreate an Arsenal women’s post when they were about to play Manchester Useless United at a SOLD OUT EMIRATESSSS! not bad for a 1st Photoshop design!
Compared to what the Arsenal women’s social media team made, I think I did better. I’m free for summer internships if any Arsenal staff member sees this lol.
Conclusion:
2024 is Kobe year (#24), my goal? DAILY continuous improvement, so far so good. Just 3 months in and I’ve done several various activities. Sadly, I haven’t made much progress with my Blockchain Web 3 women’s sports project. I’ll be focusing on it soon. Working on a 14thgunner content strategy plan that will free up my calendar.
I’m working on creating new revenue sources for women’s sports using Blockchain systems starting with Web 3.0. Utilizing women’s sports strongest factor, its community always strives for growth. Fan engagement tokens are my 1st revenue source project. If you want to keep up with my project progress follow @minusastra
Feel free to connect with me, whether it’s in a more official setting on LinkedIn or a chilled way on Instagram @gloria.__.m or send an email, gloriam.official@gmail.com!
Thanks for reading, until next time. adieu mes amie! :)