Global Awards 2020 Winner Interview: São Paulo Team

Congratulations on winning a Global Award! How does it feel?

We were very happy to receive such a decorated award, a team award!

We know that we are Ambassadors not because we expect recognition or because we have a need to be acknowledged for what we do. In essence, we do what we do because it gives us satisfaction and it fills us with joy to see that we create stories as an outcome.

But awards are awards, who is not happy to receive an award?

We were invited by our managers Alex, Miriam, and Christopher to create a very personalized event, a surprise “After Party” celebration. We gladly took on the challenge to share this euphoria with our fellow InterNations members as a token of appreciation and of course celebrate all those awarded.

What inspired you to get involved as Ambassadors in your community?

We feel part of a global family, and our community is vibrant and active. Being an Ambassador is a real pleasure. We embrace it with full gratitude, as we have the possibility of offering members what we have experienced since we joined InterNations: unique events where we socialize, network, make new friends, learn about new cultures, and above all, have fun together.

Can you tell us more about events in your community and what it takes to organize them?

It is very important to offer a variety of formats and topics for our events, and the active interchange of ideas is paramount. Our events vary from parties, to learning opportunities, socializing, and networking.

As a team, we continuously interact to generate new ideas and make the next events different from the previous one. Our different backgrounds help the team to be productive.

Why did you decide to work together as an Ambassador team?

We have different skills, personalities, ages, gender, so we can complement each other in organizing our events. Our diversity as a team helps to display a wide range of options and styles in our initiatives.

How do you share the tasks?

We organize ourselves in mini groups and follow a calendar posted in our personalized Google Drive where we also share the materials created for our online events. We also use our WhatsApp group on a daily basis to communicate about offerings, ideas, and opportunities.

In your own words, what is the role of an Ambassador?

An InterNations Ambassador has the unique and influential role of keeping their communities alive, vibrant, stimulating people to participate, embracing newcomers, listening to members in order to adapt the events offer to their expectations and wishes. 

The past year has been challenging with the sudden change to online life, but you have excelled in hosting events and supporting the Sao Paulo community. How did you adapt to the online experience and keep the community spirit alive?

The challenge of hosting online events all of a sudden caught us all by surprise, fueled our team spirit, and stimulated us to work together to keep our community alive. So, we had to match our experiences and skills to organize our events. With the lack of in-person human interaction, we needed to get creative. For instance, we needed someone who had more skills in technology, another with access to guest speakers, others more art-oriented, and so on and so forth.

What can members expect from your events?

We believe that our events embody the spirit of InterNations. We create events from the bottom to the top in the sense that the participants are the protagonists of the event and we as Ambassadors are the facilitators. They are the stars of the show, not us. For instance, offering people the space to express themselves, choosing and listening to their favorite songs, or showing how to prepare their favorite drink are only two examples of what we mean by members being the center of our attention.

We also try to add value and share our own passions, our self-development sessions, live music, bingo, and “Presenting Brazil & SP to the World” event are a result of that.

How has InterNations helped you?

InterNations has helped us feel like we are part of a global family and offer our time for our community. Some of us don’t have the opportunity of serving a community within our professional or social space and InterNations has helped us to better interact with others and to “give and receive”. 

What makes the InterNations Community so special? Why would you encourage other Ambassadors to work in a team?

Our community has a universal spirit, without boundaries, and makes you feel part of a global reality and open up to the world. It is a (now virtual) space where you can enjoy local realities using global classes to widen your scope. We give you the sense that you’re not alone, we are together in the same warm, welcoming, and friendly environment! 

Why should members join your events?

To enjoy life, open their minds, make friends from all around the globe, have a great time with fellow members, exchange experiences and learn from each other without cultural constraints. It’s all about getting away from their small groups and being part of the bigger picture in this world. These reasons are very meaningful to us as organizers, they are our best driving force, where we get our energy from and inspiration to give our best to all InterNations members who join our events.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.