Are you really connecting with your community?

I’m coming off an emotional roller-coaster from last night’s UP CLOSE at the Cocoa event. The event was filled with the coolest people in our community and was designed by Marrow to leave everyone energized and inspired. Natalie Davison and Cearagh Vessey gave the first 9 participants of the Marrow Marketing Lab, myself included, an incredible gift. They gave us an opportunity to dig deep, get raw and vulnerable with ourselves and our businesses, and feel safe. Over the 8-week intensive lab, we lab rats bonded, we laughed, we cried and we triumphed. Coming to my “why” was raw and soul-bearing. I never expected to get so much out of a marketing lab. I used to just throw stuff at the wall to see what would stick and Natalie and Cearagh taught us why that didn’t work. About halfway through the lab, when going through our brand communications and key messaging, I finally got it. I told this story to our group and I cried.

This is my why:

I have no memories before the age of 12. My sister and I were born in Massachusetts, raised by a single mom. My sister had counted that we had moved over 30 times before I got to grade 7 (she was in grade 6) and in that year alone we moved from Massachusetts to Puerto Rico, to Maine and then to Moncton. All along the journey in our childhood, it was a struggle to make friends when everyone else had friends they had known their entire lives. We were both shy, but if I didn’t reach out and try to make friends, we were outcast. We were lonely and left to ourselves. I was once sucker-punched in a coat room and tried to protect my sister from the same.

After a while, I learned to become more outgoing in order to survive. I reinvented myself. I had to. I had a teacher who believed in me and I gained more confidence. With his encouragement, I went on to college and had a great career in construction project management. Alongside that career, I needed to make real connections in our community and share remarkable experiences coming together to help others. It goes back to learning to connect as a child in order to survive.

Amber Richards

Fast-forward to 2015 when I realized how I could leverage my passion to build relationships into a business to help others connect because we are better together. Although my name is Amber and my business is AMBER EFFECT EVENTS, it’s no coincidence that amber is formed by light and life. Its warm, bright energy promotes success, connection, and trust. Success, connection, and trust – exactly what I longed for as a child. So, I started AMBER EFFECT EVENTS to focus our amber light on our clients’ objectives. We partner with our clients to illuminate their goals and deliver a successful outcome. Our clients trust us to look after everything from budget and timeline preparation, to venue and supplier coordination, to theme design and tailoring the best guest experience with on-site execution.

Are you really connecting with your community? I now have great memories with people in our community and I want to help you make great memories while connecting with others as well.

AMBER EFFECT EVENTS leverages our knowledge, ideas and network to make sure your organization has the chance to look people in the eye and share remarkable experiences. Amber is thought to symbolize and promote energy, confidence, and safety. Let our light be a beacon to attract people into your community.

Is it time to contact AMBER EFFECT to help you plan your event? Go on over to ambereffect.com/contact and let’s get started today!

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