Jezebel Voulé
APP Administrator

It’s easy for me to sound like I have found religion when I talk about volunteering. For me it has easily saved me. It gives me a focal point in which I can see the immediate return of my investment (time) and makes me feel like I have a reason for being. I’ve always been a volunteer. However, volunteering for the APP has been different for me. It is the first time that I have felt, not only like I was a part of the greater good—a community—but also a family. Every year I get introduced to new family members I did not know existed, just like distant cousins at a family reunion. Some of them end up becoming so close to me that they become siblings. The APP and what it stands for is the first thing I have experienced that I don’t mind testing my boundaries for. Sometimes to a fault. That’s okay because that is what families do for each other; they support your aim to test your own limits and are willing to catch you when you fall.

The behind the scenes of the APP Conference is very much like that. Each volunteer tends to reach so far that they can overextend themselves and fall. Not because they were asked to but because they want to help so much that it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. As years have gone by, I have seen myself and those around me grow exponentially. I have seen the control freaks loosen their grips, the multi-taskers admit to their limits, and a plethora of other character strengths find out that sometimes there is too much of a good thing. Most of the volunteers do not just volunteer one week out of the year for APP, but rather for several months. Some even work on a weekly basis. The reason could be because we are either addicts or mad. However, I think it’s because we love it. That love makes us want to be as close to it as possible and so we devote our time and energy throughout the year. Just so we can be a little bit closer to all the things we love about volunteering for the APP.

This year I won the Josh Prentice Award as a recognition of all the time I have put into the APP. It made me think about my journey. Not just as a piercer but as a person. Just like many, my first few Conferences were filled with doubt. I started by being overwhelmed by the thought that I would do everything wrong. That was a feeling I got from the moment my feet touched the Las Vegas soil my first time. A scholarship had gotten me there. During that week, I felt inept in my classes and I was intimidated on a career level by everyone I met. I was thankful to work because it was nice to be useful to the industry in at least one way.

My following year, at the Tropicana, I was excited because during this year—my second—I began to make bonds with people. I had really grown over the year but still knew that I was not who I wanted to be as a piercer. This was also the year I found out what I liked doing the best; I loved having to talk to people that I didn’t know and forcing myself out of my personal bubble.

The years following had many little adventures. One year I unloaded the entire Conference by myself. Not because I had to, but because it was something I could do. I knew that when help arrived the help would be willing and able. Back then the Conference was smaller, and by the time everyone else showed up, when they were expected, I was already done unloading. That memory is one of my favorites because it makes me remember how bull-headed I can be, but also how determined. There are also memories of first meetings with those whom I consider family today; becoming not just a Conference family, but real family. I am now fortunate enough to spend Christmas and other holidays with those who hold a valuable place in my heart that have transcended the Association of Professional Piercers. At some point, I realized I was no longer the intimidated girl that arrived at my first Conference, but was now someone that people could look up to. Most importantly when I look back on my life as a volunteer I can look up to myself. I have become my very own role model.

I have become a better piercer because of Conference, but I know even more that I am a better person because I am a volunteer. I am thankful for that privilege. I am thankful to all those that volunteer around me. Not just those that take shifts to help Conference run smoothly, but those that volunteer information; those that are willing to ask questions that at least one other person was trying to get the nerve to ask; those that are willing to escort someone to their room that has exceeded their limits. To all those that make an impact on another either directly or indirectly I am thankful for you.