This week, our resident blogger, James Davermann, took the time to have a quick chat with Liza Rafael, Givology's media director and community manager. Liza has been actively involved with a plethora of Givology's campaigns, utilizing her penchants for media and filmmaking to get people engaged in making a difference!
[b]JAMES DAVERMANN: So tell us a little bit about yourself: Where are you from? Where did you attend college? What do you do? And what do you do specifically for Givology?[/b]
[b]LIZA RAFAEL[/b]: I’m from Omaha, Nebraska and went to school at the University of Iowa. I am currently living in New York City. I’m a filmmaker; I studied cinema and journalism in college, and have been contributing my filmmaking skills to Givology as its Media Director.
[b]JAMES DAVERMANN: How did you come to know Givology? Walk us through your experience getting involved.[/b]
[b]LIZA RAFAEL[/b]: A friend from high school went to college with Jenn [Q. Chen] and Joyce [Meng] and thought that Givology would be a good place for me to share my skills. I met with Jenn and it worked out to be a good match. I’ve now been in the NYC chapter for about a year.
[i]Liza Rafael, Givology's community manager and media director[/i]
[b]JAMES DAVERMANN: Is there any specific personal philanthropic initiative you would like to see come to fruition?[/b]
[b]LIZA RAFAEL[/b]: I’m currently working on the Give Inspiration campaign, started by Jiashan Wu, where we are interviewing people in creative positions about what inspires them. This project involves pairing each creative with a designer to come up with graphics based on these interviews, to be used on Givology products. Through the website, people will be able to share the graphics and products with their friends and 100% of the profits from these designs will go to Givology and its partner organizations.
[b]JAMES DAVERMANN: What was your favorite Givology event or project? Favorite thing on which you’ve worked?[/b]
[b]LIZA RAFAEL: [/b]I have enjoyed working on the videos for the Givology website. I look forward to putting these interviews together for Give Inspiration, and seeing the project grow into a (possibly) annual campaign.
[b]JAMES DAVERMANN: What are your goals for Givology as media director moving ahead?[/b]
[b]LIZA RAFAEL[/b]: I hope to produce more content for the website. These interviews with Give Inspiration will help me move toward that goal, but ideally I’d like to have at least one new video a month going on our website and our social media outlets.
[b]JAMES DAVERMANN: What is the most rewarding and challenging aspect of volunteering with Givology (more specifically, as Media Director)? [/b]
[b]LIZA RAFAEL[/b]: The hardest thing about producing a video is all of the factors that you can’t control - equipment not working, weather, etc. The best part of making these videos is I’m able to share something creative and promote Givology’s message at the same time.
[b]JAMES DAVERMANN: Tell us something about yourself that’s out of the ordinary? Your favorite accomplishment? Your favorite saying/inspirational/motivational quote?[/b]
[b]LIZA RAFAEL[/b]: One thing about me that is out of ordinary is that prior to living in Nebraska, I lived in four other states - Connecticut, Texas, Illinois, and New Jersey - all before age 11.
My biggest accomplishment is that after college I directed a feature length documentary about high school show choir called Leave it on the Stage and it went to two film festivals.
My favorite quote comes from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off - “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”
[b]JAMES DAVERMANN: Any advice for prospective volunteers or the Givology network?[/b]
[b]LIZA RAFAEL[/b]: The best advice is to use your talents - whatever it is you are good at - to help. It’s great to learn new skills, but if you’re already good at something chances are you care about it as well. It’s easier to stay with a project when you are doing something you are passionate about.