Thankful for Winter Wonders
Dear Shapers,
As we move into the busy holiday season, we want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude for everyone’s participation in the hub. It’s been a year of growth, impact, and community, and we couldn’t have done it without each of you.
Read on for updates, events, and Shaper highlights to get us all into a festive mood and prepared for the new year.
(Important note: We will be hosting a holiday party a week prior to our usual hub meeting. See below for details - we hope to see you there!)
- With Shaper love <3
Run in the Dark
We were excited to co-organize the Run in the Dark event this year: a worldwide 5k/10k run and walk to help cure paralysis in our lifetime. The organization has events every year in 50+ cities worldwide and New York was one of them!
On November 13th, one of the first cold nights of the year, our hub volunteers from NY Global Shapers, including Kate, Sohil, Claire, Rui, Anabel, Abdullah, and Camille met up at Hudson River park. More than 50 people joined to support the cause!
We also granted spots for refugees to complete the run as part of Project Phoenix. We look forward to expanding our programs with
Shapers Shapin’ SHAPEs
Our Shapers had a great time representing the New York hub at the SHAPE North America and Caribbean event. It was wonderful to see new and familiar faces (hello Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens Hub peeps).
And of course, thank you to the Phoenix hub for their amazing job hosting the whole community!
The weekend in the deserts of Phoenix, Arizona was full of activities and connections: sunrise hikes, ideation sessions on solving local issues in the region, exploring museums, and even planting some trees…all the while having fun with Shapers from the region and beyond.
We also had our Shapers present their projects to all of SHAPE NAC: Joon for OneRise and Brian for ZEST. Hats off to both of them for stepping up to the plate and representing us!
And shout-out to Saisha for making time for an international trip to SHAPE Africa! Held at the African Union HQ, there were exciting panels, cultural experiences, and tons of connecting and reconnecting. Saisha spoke on several panels on upskilling and reskilling and even hosted a leadership session as the founder of Partner with Purpose, alongside five regional community partners. Amazing!
Friendsgiving Recap
Thank you to everyone who made our Shaper Friendsgiving a warm and memorable gathering!
We shared a delicious potluck with incredible contributions. We had several dishes from our hub chefs, the Kate’s and their usual delicacies (#IYKYK), Dina and her samosas from scratch, Anabel’s sushi platter (okay not homemade but so plentiful!) and the list goes on.
We also welcomed new members to their first meeting (hi Camille and Richa ), learned about each other’s hobbies (Abdullah’s budding fragrance startup?!), and connected with our friends across other hubs. (Shout out to anyone’s contribution that was missed here - we could’t fit them all!)
From gratitude exercises to meaningful conversations, it was truly a celebration of our vibrant community. We’re truly grateful.