Meet Our Impact Maker Team Leaders!
Melanie Burm
Team: Workforce Development
Years Involved: Since the beginning
Day Job: Director of External Affairs, Workforce Development & Community Partnerships.
Why did you first get involved? I’m passionate about making a difference in the community. Impact Maker work allows me to marry my professional work with my personal passion – helping vulnerable populations connect with meaningful employment opportunities for, potentially, life changing impact.
What Principle of Doing most resonates with you? Arizona First. This is home. This is my community. I am so proud of our community and want to do whatever possible to continue to make improvements so that it remains THE best place to live, work, and play.
What are you most excited about for your team’s work? We have made strides and have had wins in this space. Organizations are taking the assessment, embracing the digital badging, and proud to promote the fact that they are Fair Chance Employers. Organizations that have not yet gotten involved are interested in learning more – we have their attention. Though it’s taken time to get here, we have made progress so I’m excited to see what’s next!
Lorenzo Chavez
Team: Education Team
Years Involved: 4 years
Day Job: Executive Director of Education at the Arizona Community Foundation
What are you most excited about for your team’s work? This is a critical time for our work on FAFSA (free application for federal student aid). With the revamp of the FAFSA this year students and families are struggling to find answers and complete the form.
What’s your favorite thing about Arizona? The ability to innovate. This state is ripe for entrepreneurship and finding new and improved ways to do things.
What would you tell someone considering getting involved with the Impact Maker? This is a tremendous way to create meaningful change. You are not just giving back, you are helping to create change for the better.
Joyceline Elliot
Team: Child Well-Being
Years Involved: 3 Years
Day Job: Program Manager, Department of Economic Security, AZ Business Enterprise Program
Why did you first get involved with the Impact Maker? After meeting with the various impact teams, the child well being team resonates with me. As a mother of 2 children, it was a motivation for me to be more involved in solving the issues we encounter in Arizona and be a driving force to make a change.
What are you most excited for about your team’s work? Currently I am excited about our goals for the upcoming year which involves family resource centers (FRC). We will be focus on visiting FRCs as a team, and having our legislatures involved, ensuring our community is aware of FRCs, creating a map, and partnering with our local FRCs in our community
What would you tell someone considering getting involved with the Impact Maker? If you want to make a difference in Arizona, then joining an impact team, provides you an opportunity to make your contribution and give back to your community
McCady Findley
Team: Tree Equity Score Years Involved: 1 year
Day Job: Energy Manager
What are you most excited about for your team’s work? I’m most excited about the fact that the lens through which we look at planting trees is one that’s novel; not all tree projects are strategic and equity-based in structure. We constantly brainstorm on the best ways to maximize our impact.
What Principle of Doing most resonates with you? Team mindset. Everyone is solely focused on the outcome, not their own individual recognition.
What would you tell someone considering getting involved with the Impact Maker? Understand that this provides you the opportunity to be around like-minded, motivated individuals, and provides a concrete avenue to “make a difference” like so many of us want to do. If you make time and truly commit to the work, you’ll do more than you ever could by yourself.
Stephen Flaaen
Team: Chronic Absenteeism
Years Involved: Technical Project Manager
Day Job: 4 years
What are you most excited about for your team’s work? Using technology to help people in need access the resources they need. Specifically, launching the chatbot, so we can see it in action!
What Principle of Doing most resonates with you? Driven to Do.
What would you tell someone considering getting involved with the Impact Maker? If you are interested in making the community/city/state where you live, joining Impact Maker is the best way I’ve found to do that.
Koran Hardimon
Team: Racial Justice
Years Involved: 3-4 years
Day Job: Vice President – Culture and Talent Excellence
Why did you first get involved? To drive tangible, sustainable impact in our communities.
What are you most excited about for your team’s work? I am excited about the impact we have driven and continue to drive around racial justice. I am also excited about the team being intentional around identifying targeted and tangible actions that can help drive RJ within our communities and for the state. Lastly, I am also excited about the potential of partnering with other Impact Maker teams.
What would you tell someone considering getting involved with the Impact Maker? Get involved. Get ready to make impactful and sustainable change.
Sarah Shambrook
Team: Housing
Years Involved: 1 year
Day Job: Government Relations Manager for Dominium
What are you most excited about for your team’s work? I am very excited to get like-minded folks together to advocate for a cause we all care about – more attainable homes for Arizonans!
What Principle of Doing most resonates with you? Each Principle of Doing resonates at different times, but I believe innately that building trust in any community is the bedrock of advocacy. Showing that you are focused on the results of not just the industry, stakeholders or elected leaders and instead focused on the wellbeing and interests of the community as a whole is deeply important to this work.
What would you tell someone considering getting involved with the Impact Maker? I think Impact Maker is a great way to dip your toe in advocacy without having to fully commit to working in this industry all day every day. VL makes it very easy to get involved and Impact Maker teams allow very busy, committed individuals to make an impact (get it) within their allowed capacity.
Paige Soucie
Team: Opioid Stigma Reduction
Years Involved: 3 years
Day Job: Director of Marketing at Valley Leadership
Why did you first get involved? I was looking for a way to make an impact in the community when I learned about the Impact Maker. When I heard the stat that someone was more likely to die from an accidental opioid overdose than a car crash, I knew I wanted to get involved with the team.
What are you most excited about for your team’s work? We recently got a grant to run an opioid awareness event series to help educate business leaders about the severity of the opioid crisis. We have some really exciting individuals who will be speaking and I’m excited about being able to have a broader impact on increasing awareness of the issue.
What would you tell someone considering getting involved with the Impact Maker? If you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and be part of the solution to something you’re passionate about for Arizona, the Impact Maker is for you.
Ginger Sykes Torres
Team: Environmental Sustainability
Years Involved: 2-3 years
Day Job: State Executive Director of the USDA Farm Service Agency
Why did you first get involved? I care deeply about sustainability.
What are you most excited about for your team’s work? We are working together to make Phoenix cooler.
What would you tell someone considering getting involved with the Impact Maker? It’s a wonderful way to connect with the community in a meaningful way.
Nicholas Vasquez
Team: Health
Years Involved: Years…. I think since when Dave came to VL Day Job: Emergency Physician
What are you most excited about for your team’s work? Making a lasting difference in my community.
What Principle of Doing most resonates with you? Driven to Do.
What would you tell someone considering getting involved with the Impact Maker? Arizona has difficult problems to solve, only together can we do anything lasting.
Kent Wilson
Team: Early Childhood Literacy
Years Involved: 4 years
Day Job: Head of State & Local Government Affairs at Target
What are you most excited about for your team’s work? Early childhood literacy gets me excited. Making sure that kids can read sets them up for success in life, and our team is doing what we can to help them do just that.
What Principle of Doing most resonates with you? The team mindset. Very few problems can be solved alone, and you need a great team of people driven to make change to have a lasting impact.
What would you tell someone considering getting involved with the Impact Maker? Do it. Spending your time with others that care about Arizona and our community is never a waste of time. And you’ll learn more about the state we all love — and yourself — than you could ever imagine.