After today I will officially have been a SOHO intern for three weeks and it has been quite the learning experience! With a very diverse and entertaining office atmosphere I have tried humus for the first time (and enjoyed it I might add), learned that sometimes parking lots are called car parks and collard greens taste better cooked in a wok. I am broadening my cultural horizons! However, it is clear that the most important thing I have learned so far is that it’s all about your story.

Recently, my co-workers and I have passed around the book “Start Something That Matters” by the founder of TOMS Shoes, Blake Mycoskie. The book has a whole chapter dedicated to the importance of telling your story. Telling your story will set you apart from other organizations and it will help others connect with you and your mission.

Your story is what makes you who you are. You need people to love your story. Supporters bring awareness to your cause and legs to your mission. They become the best brand ambassadors you could ask for. After all, this idea is what brought me on my journey to the SOHO office today.

OUR children, SOHO’s children, have some of the most heart wrenching yet beautiful stories to tell. What makes their stories so different from the others? They have no voice, no one to listen to them. They live in a world where people treat them like they do not matter. They all matter to us; we have to lend them our voices.

As we reach a very critical point in SOHO’s development, we need to tell these children’s stories now more than ever. We have to tell these stories to every ear willing to listen and to every heart willing to bleed. After all, these stories are what gave SOHO life. These stories set us apart from every one else. These stories are the reason I sit here today.

All I ask of you in return? Listen.

Devan