Leadership Unlimited: It’s Good to be Home

I’m starting off the summer with a new credential! I’m proud to report that earlier this month I graduated from Leadership Unlimited, a nine-month community leadership program expertly run by Angie Cirone at Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development .

Along with 25 other community leaders, I learned a ton about myself and about Richland county’s communities, including deep dives into topics such as the local economy, workforce, environment, housing, crime prevention, and more.

I returned to my hometown a year ago after being away for literally decades. I felt like a stranger, a newcomer in a land I once new so well. Everything was the same and yet at the same time it was all so drastically different.

And then LU happened. Slowly but surely I began to understand the systems at work around me. And gradually, I began to build relationships with my neighbors and peers, relationships that only grew stronger as we organized program days together and ultimately a capstone project, the inaugural Run/Walk for NAMI Richland County. And now I am a part of a 1000+ member group of LU alumni who all work together to make a difference for ourselves and our neighbors.

As a result of this experience, I feel better equipped to contribute positively to this unique, close-knit, and hard-working community. Not one to be satisfied with the status quo, though, I am already working on a few projects to make a difference for and with my fellow community members. Stay tuned for more on each of these ideas as they come to fruition!

If you live or work in Richland county and are looking for an opportunity to grow your leadership skills and/or find your niche in this community, I highly recommend this program. We all have a part to do, however small, to make the world around us a more resilient, vibrant, thriving place. I can’t think of a better way to prepare us to do so than Leadership Unlimited.

I’d also like to give a special thanks to Allie Watson who encouraged me to apply for this program. You were right – this was exactly what I needed and then some!