What was your experience working on a Taproot Foundation project?

My team and I were responsible for producing a promotional brochure for Abbott House, a social service agency for children and families. The goal of the project was to try and have some of the older children adopted by caring families, a wonderful cause in my eyes. Abbott House was very accommodating with information and was pleased with the final product. My team was very professional and reliable, and a pleasure to work with.

How have you grown from your pro bono experience?

I really felt good about our work. I can only try and imagine what foster kids go through being separated from their natural families and often bouncing around from one foster family to another. If I can, in any way, help get them to be adopted by a stable and caring family, then that’s worth much more than any paycheck. The experience reinforced my desire to work for a nonprofit agency – which I recently fulfilled through a career transition.

What were the biggest challenges in your project?

The most challenging facet of the projects is finding days and times that work for everyone to meet.

How do you think the business community and nonprofit sector can strengthen one another?

The business community can help strengthen the nonprofit sector by bringing a more out-of-the-box approach to conducting business. Although nonprofits are having to compete more than ever for outside contributions, the private sector is generally more competitive, and companies must find creative ways, whether in marketing, advertising or distribution, to stay on top. Nonprofits on the other hand, can open corporations’ eyes to some worthy causes, and hopefully as the result, they would feel inclined to do something to help. Every little bit helps.

What community issues are most important to you and what did you learn from the project?

Equal education for all children, whatever tax-bracket their families are in, or what country they are from, is extremely important to me. I learned from my project that there are many children in the city who don’t have access to the same educational opportunities as others. And it takes much more than a few caring organizations to help all of them. A top priority of any city should be to ensure a solid education for every child.

Other than volunteering with the Taproot Foundation, what do you like to do in your free time?

I am an avid singer/songwriter and guitarist. Most of my free time is spent writing songs, and performing in bars and cafes around New York City. I would feel a bit misplaced without music in my life.