“When I give the best of me, that becomes my legacy” – Karen Lopez McWilliams

This was the 15th Conference that I have attended and worked at for the APP. The job I do today has changed drastically from the first Conference, and I am certain will continue to change and evolve as the Conference does.

One of my main responsibilities at our Conference is to manage and oversee the training of the volunteer staff members. This started out pretty simply with a handful of volunteers and now we have just over 50 volunteers each year – some of whom have even more experience than I do at Conference.

I started referring to the volunteer group members as ducklings years ago and at some point I became Momma Duck; and in some cases just “Momma” or “Mom.” I suspect it was when I started being a better manager, when I moved from being a hardcore boss lady and started doing more mentoring. I didn’t come by it naturally, and it took a while. I am forever grateful for the volunteers who stuck out those harder years when I was not in control of my emotions, when I was angry most of the time, when I attempted to control everything and everyone and did a poor job of both.

When I started relying on my team, giving them the tools to do the job and then staying out of their way – I became a mentor. When I realized that emotions in the Conference environment were contagious even more than the Las Vegas flu and took steps to work on this flaw in my own life – I became a mentor. When I stopped trying to make everyone do the work the way I would, I stopped having to do everything, and the work got done better – and I became a mentor.

The pride I have when a volunteer becomes an APP Member, applies to a job in a premier shop, joins a committee, becomes a parent, learns to ask for help and support when in trouble, runs for a Board position, or reaches out to assist a fellow volunteer, is never ending. It validates the work I have done with the team.

Let me be clear, I love being a mentor to the volunteer team. To see a group of individuals who dedicate a huge amount of time and effort to a single cause – strangers who come together and through service work become friends and family. The team who goes on each year to celebrate each member’s victories and mourn each member’s losses; to be there for each other in their daily lives for counsel, laughter, instruction, and support.

But I don’t just mentor them – they mentor me. The whole of APP mentors me. I would not  be  the  person,  mentor,  administrator  that I am without this mentoring. Every challenge, every criticism, every little bit of feedback from an attendee, has lead me to work on myself personally, to grow professionally, to search out new technologies and tools to manage our event and attendees. The volunteer team more than most has both supported me in the challenges of running the Conference, and made it clear that I could do better. Do better by relying on them, trusting them, and allowing them to do their jobs. Do better by doing less, stressing less, being happy, and relaxing more. Do better, by doing things differently than my brain says to do them.

At the very basis of Conference is the belief that everyone can improve themselves with more knowledge and everyone has knowledge to share with others. Everyone can Mentor; and everyone still needs mentoring.

I encourage everyone reading this to find ways to mentor another piercer or another person. I encourage everyone to find someone or many someones who can be a mentor for them. Not just in piercing, but in life.

“If you’re not reaching back to help anyone then you’re not building a legacy.”—Germany Kent