Unfortunately, saying thank you seems to be an after thought more and more. So at least once a month, I will take a few minutes to publicly appreciate someone that has had an impact on me.
This round: Maria Matarelli
I can’t remember which year I first met Maria. I want to say it was around 2011-ish. I attended a session she was co-speaking with Dan Neumann. I can’t tell you what the session was about. Sorry. I knew Dan – so I got a chance to meet Maria after the session. After that, we would catch up at conferences over the years.
In the past few years, our catching up has increased and turned into a wonderful friendship. So there are many things to thank Maria for but I wanted to focus on a very recent moment. Maria had an unfortunate attendance issue with a student in one of her Certified ScrumMasters classes. Being the kind generous soul that she is, she explored options to help this student. This alone is worthy of appreciation.
But she didn’t stop there with just telling him what other classes were options for him. She noticed my name as an upcoming instructor and reached out. As she put it “I was so relieved when I saw your name. Can we help him?”. Let me break down why that was so important to me. I’m grateful to have built relationships that cause people to feel relief. I’m grateful that she knew I might be open to helping. I’m grateful that she immediately put us in a we on helping someone else. Talk about living what you teach. When people ask me why I still go to so many conferences, well, because finding people like Maria – that’s what life is about.
So thank you Maria for this truly wonderful relationship of support and laughter!
Tricia
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