Volunteer Spotlight: Tricia O’Neill
Meet Tricia
Tricia O’Neill came to us through our connection at Slalom, who have been supporting our 48in48 events for years. Tricia says she heard positive comments about 48in48, and decided to sign up for an event, eager to learn more.
Before Slalom, Tricia worked for Raytheon, and for a while for an energy efficiency company, all the while taking on project management roles.
Tricia came to volunteering at a young age, getting involved with some smaller groups from her hometown supporting survivors of domestic violence and a youth enrichment group that centered outdoors in teaching. She says in college she became more connected to opportunities in her community, and after graduation felt her volunteering hours becoming more sporadic. This led her to seek somewhere to work her volunteer muscle – and not just as a PM!
48in48 Involvement
Tricia joined us as an EPM, the role above PMs that liaises between teams, our Program Director, and 48in48 staff during the weekend to make sure everyone gets their site over the finish line. The role is an involved one – teams are always changing, and EPMs are responsible for filling gaps in teams at the last minute, finding the right resources to answer questions, and managing each PM as they manage their team.
As EPM at the recent Women’s Event, Tricia led 10 teams to create brand new websites for Nonprofits across the U.S. One of her teams (also associated with Slalom) won our Social Media Challenge (which we will also be hosting during our upcoming Social Justice Build Event – #SJE22Challenge). Tricia did an amazing job as an EPM – we’re lucky to have her on board!
Words of Wisdom
When asked, Tricia said if someone is on the fence about joining an upcoming 48in48 event, her advice is to just do it. “In any capacity, it’s such a cool and unique weekend experience.” The weekend can be intimidating, but like any volunteering opportunity, the giveback you’ll feel is greater than the effort you’ll have to put in. “The event is really important in the way that works and the impact you make. It’s a big time commitment, but it’s worth it. A full weekend can be intimidating, but you get way more out of this than out of an hour of something else.” Tricia says the real reward is “to be working with so many different people – the individual teams get so close, complete strangers who have never met and would maybe never meet spend a whole weekend together; true friends are really developed during this event, and that’s really cool.”
Tricia also said a highlight for her at the event – like many volunteers tell us – was the Nonprofits. She said certain Nonprofits her teams were working on focused on catering to niche communities in a way that opened her eyes to the great work being done around accessibility, safety, and inclusion efforts by Nonprofits around the U.S. “It’s shocking what people are doing without a website,” she said – and it’s true! So many Nonprofits expend their energy serving their community, not setting up a digital presence. That’s what we’re here for.
We’re so fortunate to have Tricia as part of the 48in48 family. Volunteers like her are an integral part of 48in48’s ability to fulfill its purpose. If you want to join us, sign up for our next event or reach out to [email protected].
