Earlier this summer my Managing Editor reached out to me and invited me to be a Community Ambassador (CA) for Odyssey. As a CA, I would be paired with a Managing Editor (ME) in New York and we would set out to start new Odyssey communities in different areas of the country.
The role of a CA, aside from being an awesome ambassador and representative, is to reach out on different forms of social media and invite people to become part of not just the community we were trying to launch, but also Odyssey as a whole, which is a community in itself. Have you ever seen those people handing out Redbull or other random things on campuses or in a city? That's basically what I'm doing, but from the comfort of my couch.
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As soon as I found out what I was doing, I was hella excited. I love talking to people, I love telling people what I do and I love talking about things I'm passionate about. I'm a writing major who started writing for Odyssey on a whim, and fell in love with everything I was doing. There literally isn't a better position for me to hold.
I chose two communities - one in Massachusetts and one in Florida. Because I live Michigan, and when I started doing outreach for these communities I was living in England, I felt really unsure of what I was about to conquer.
While doing this, inviting people to join and putting it on their radar can be tough. Sending friend requests and joining groups on Facebook. Doing outreach on Twitter. Commenting on any relevant Instagram photo. Tumblr. Reddit. Pinterest.
It feels difficult, but then you realize that this is how Odyssey started - just a group of people doing everything in their power to get people to check out this awesome thing - makes it worth every second. But now, Odyssey has grown so much that people are coming to us to request invitations to join. And I'm happy to be involved.
I also was lucky enough to have such stellar people who joined these communities who helped by coming into contact with friends or others at school who might be interested in becoming a Creator. They were such great people that I plan on staying in contact with after I move on to start new communities!
In a little over a month and a half, I was able to get one of my communities launched and the other one almost there. Knowing that I was able to help such amazing groups of people get their work published and have their voices heard is such an empowering thing. Here's to the next set of communities.
