MaryKay Mullally — Making a Difference

by Barbara Nelson

Tired of running a software development team in California, Jamaican-born MaryKay Mullally became involved in self-development seminars. One of her courses involved developing a half-marathon-training group. The result? “I ran my first marathon in January 2002, two months before turning 41,” the now vibrant 47-year old mother of two, said.

“It was one of the most challenging yet exhilarating things I’ve ever done. I had to dig deep physically and mentally to keep going when my muscles were burning and the voices in my head said I wasn’t going to make it. It required that I be present in each moment, focus on the finish line and just take the next step. Completing that marathon made me feel like I could do anything.”

twists and turns

She was one of five women featured in the June 2008 issue of Prevention magazine, vying for the top prize in the second annual Prevention/ABC News Now Picture of Health contest. The women were selected because they showed that “life does get better after 40, and that you can find your healthy path no matter how many twists and turns it takes to get there.”

This charming woman, who attended St. Andrew High School in Jamaica as a young girl, ran two more marathons in 2003 before creating Step Up For Life in August 2004. Step Up For Life was initially launched as a project in the Self Expression and Leadership Program, one of the core programs of Landmark Education. This program gives people an opportunity to express themselves fully, make a difference in their community and have other people people participate.

“I wanted to empower women with this program by helping them to do something they would never have done and never thought they could do so they could take that into other areas of their lives and know they could do anything by taking one step at a time with the support of other women just like themselves. I wanted women to experience the freedom I felt when I ran and have a tool they could use to reclaim their health. I had 50 people sign up and had to turn people away,” she said.

experience

Of the original 50 women, 40 made it to the starting line at the inaugural Nike Women’s Half Marathon in San Francisco and all finished. For many it was the most empowering experience of their lives.

In January of 2005 MaryKay launched Step Up as a business, running three sessions per year to train for local San Diego Half marathons. Just fewer than 1000 women have participated to date.

“I have now expanded my business into a wellness coaching practice and have helped hundreds of men and women to lose weight and reclaim their health and wellbeing. So my focus is more on this aspect of my business,” she explained. MaryKay also coaches people via the phone over a period and helps them to achieve their individual health, weight or fitness goals.

Since being profiled by Prevention magazine and ABC News, she has been contacted by scores of people including high school friends with whom she’d lost touch.

dream

“One phone call I will never forget,” MaryKay said, “came from a woman in Texas on the morning the competition was announced on ABC’s Good Morning America. She told me that she weighed 300lbs and had tried every diet in the book and had failed miserably. She said she hated herself and the night before had gone to bed hopeless and resigned. That morning she turned the TV on to the segment and for the first time in months she had hope through my story. At that point she immediately went to her computer, cast her vote for me, looked me up on Google and called me. When I hung up realizing that my dream to impact millions of people was already being fulfilled, it was all I could do to not breakdown and cry.”

ABC News declared all five finalists winners and MaryKay donated her winning cheque of US$5,000 to NEADS (Dogs For Deaf and Disabled Americans), of Princeton, MA. The organization trains rescued dogs to assist persons who are deaf or physically disabled in leading more independent lives. To learn more about MaryKay’s wellness program visit www.stepupforlife.com

To see the story in its original form, visit the Jamaica Gleaner website.

In all, Fetman managed to get about 70 people to come volunteer at two different river sites (Trail Way and Park Avenue West0 from his Highland Park Community for a day of cleanup and celebration. Volunteers worked side by side from nine in the morning to noon to collect and sort trash for recycling, remove unneeded brush, and learn about the Chicago waterway.

The entire Chicago River day had almost 4,000 volunteers working along 100 miles of waterway. Fetman himself worked with one of his teams at the Danny Cunniff Park, and worked hard to remove buckthorn and other invasive vegetation.

Participants in the project distributed these numbered acknowledgment cards to anyone they saw committing an act of kindness. The recipient is then encouraged to register the card by emailing the information to Gardner. Gardner created a website that in addition to displaying many acts of kindness she comes across, includes the contents of all these emails and thereby further celebrates these acts of kindness and generosity.

Gardner summarizes the point of this process on her website:

“This allows the global community to be witness to a growing chain of generosity and compassion. Not only are the givers and receivers of cards affected, but so are those who witness this process by visiting the website. Kindness is contagious.”
Additionally, the website also features inspirational quotes, acts of kindness in the news, links to other sites promoting acts of generosity, and updates on the project. Please visit http://www.icanpassiton.com to see the site and get more information.

The evening was a free concert featuring some of South Beach’s best classical musicians in an informal gathering, fusing strings, Arias, and even a DJ. The South Beach Chamber Ensemble and Orchestra Miami were directed by Elaine Rinaldi. The musicians performed a variety of classics, and to give the event a unique Miami flavor, DJ Tavin provided his unique musical stylings as accompaniment.

Featured musicians included Thomas Moore and Melissa Palichat on violins, Richard Fleischman on viola, and Michael Andrews on Cello. Arias were sung by Eduardo Calcano (Tenor), Suana Diaz (Soprano), and Maria Aleida Rodriguez (Soprano).

The evening was designed to include fun and socializing as well as great music, and didn’t take itself too seriously–The dinner offerings for those patrons who ate at the hotel while attending the show, included a special discounted menu for “Classical Music and Opera Haters”.

Hampton’s Musical Youth

Young performers showcased their talent at a streetdance and music festival organised by the Hampton Youth Project on Sunday.

Four youth bands led the dancing and singing at the event, which is the first time the youth project has put on a public display. It was organised by youth workers Peter Moorcock and Rosy Maria, who said:

“The aim was to give a chance for some of the great talent of the area to show off its paces. The event was a great success, and it brought together the whole Hampton community, both young and old.”

Several hundred onlookers came to the show, at the project’s Tangley Road studio, which starred twelve streetdancers and 23 singers. Bands included Groove Academy, The Long Game, The Substitutes and Adam Cleaver.

When he began Landmark’s Self-Expression and Leadership Program earlier this year, Burch became more determined than ever to raise more money for Pump Aid. He started a clean water for kids website that tells of the work that Pump Aid is doing, and included an easy button for anyone to give money. Moreover, he made a video about his own personal story and commitment to the charity. This video is shown below. Go to Burch’s Clean Water website to get involved or contribute to Pump Aid!

Tell us about your non-profit work and how you got involved there.

My father and I are both involved in this organization called Landmark Education. I lead the SELP (Self Expression in Leadership Program). He did that program, and his project was to go over to Thailand and, while there, to videotape and do a short documentary for a non-profit organization. He consequently was deeply moved by using his expertise with camera and video to communicate what these people were doing over there. He was so moved by it, as was I, that we really saw an opportunity to create a business model that was primarily philanthropic in nature. We donate a lot of our services to these on-going projects. In Tanzania, for example, we’re working for an organization called Kids of Kilimanjaro. The kids in this neck of the woods have to walk two hours to get to school. Because it’s so poverty-ridden, they literally did not have the food it took to walk four hours a day. This organization started a school lunch program. All the kids get fed at school, and the attendance rate is close to 100% now. So we go over there and shoot these films and do it free of charge. They pay for the editing on the post-production side. We do about 8-12 jobs like that a year.

How do you fund these projects?

We use the frequent flyer miles we’ve built up over the years. We donate our time.

We typically work with projects that are outside of the United States, but they have to be pretty significant sized. They pay about $15,000 on the post-production side of things. It requires that they have a marketing budget. But a lot of these organizations would never be able to afford what we provide them.

Before, having a website used to be enough. But now, people are so oriented around audio visual communications that when you can’t communicate that way with potential donors and potential givers, organizations are really missing out on an opportunity to pull people’s heartstrings.

To read the interview in its entirety, read the Jessica Kizorek story on Networlding. There’s also more information about Jessica, her book and her business at the Two Parrots web site.

Over 75 photographs were donated, and thousands of dollars were raised at the auction. As a result of the project, Zenner and his wife Cynthia have bought their dream house in the countryside of Washington state, and have put together a plan to retire in three years so that Phil can pursue nature photography full time and Cynthia can continue her ministry in the care of elderly people–Visit this Leadership and Self Development article for the full story about Cynthia’s ministry.

His project was to get sponsorship for his son Ryan’s rock band, Blue Flashing Light, of Athens, Georgia, to tour China. Cattie met with more than 25 executives of major companies in Atlanta to get sponsorship for the trip. At the same time he reestablished his relationship with Ryan.

Blue Flashing Light’s tour across China in March was a smashing success. The band played at the International Peach Blossom Festical in Chengdu, capital of the Sichuan province, as well as at the Beijing Conservatory of Modern Music. At one show, their lead singer sang three songs in Mandarin, much to the delight of the crowd. On their last day in China, the group played at the Sichuan Conservatory of Pop Music, and taught a masters class on rock n’ roll to the students there.

As a result of the exposure from the China tour, Blue Flashing Light is now playing a major benefit concert for Habitat for Humanity and is in conversations with major record labels. The band’s China tour was written about in Stomp and Stammer magazine, as well as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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