Her mother laughed. “Different good. I like your new wardrobe. Now, about that neighbor of yours…”
“I guess you’ve heard,” Maileah said, assuming she was referring to Sailor.
April squeezed her hand. “I only want you to be happy.”
“I won’t argue with that.” Maileah glanced at the door, where others were arriving, including her grandmother. “I’ll fill you in later.”
Ella greeted her, and April sat beside her on the front row.
Maileah joined them, waiting for other committee members to take their seats. These were the Crown Island residents committed to raising funds for much-needed healthcare.
“You were right,” Maileah whispered to her mother.
“About what, dear?”
“Volunteering.” That had paved the way for the possibility of providing marketing services.
April touched her cheek. “I know you’ll do well today.”
Maileah’s new client, Margaret, arrived and nodded to her. Ryan slipped into the back to observe.
Her mother turned and smiled at him. Lowering her voice, she said to Maileah, “Ryan made a generous donation on behalf of the hotel.”
Acknowledging him, Maileah wondered if that might cover part of her budget. She breathed out, recalling whatElla had told her. Before she and Augustus arrived, emergency services on the island had been minimal.
While the modest hospital provided essential care to the community, more was needed. Access was necessary because it was difficult for injured people to travel by ferry to the mainland for the physical therapy they needed to heal.
Margaret called the meeting to order. “Now that we’re all here, let’s begin.” After covering some initial business, she said, “Let’s thank Maileah for volunteering to manage the social media efforts for the upcoming event. I’m already seeing posts with comments about our event.”
Others agreed, and Margaret continued, “Since we lost our marketing specialist before he could begin, I asked Maileah to prepare some ideas for us. While it’s short notice, she assured me she could come up with a few suggestions to increase our attendance and fundraising.”
Polite applause rang out.
“Thank you for having me,” Maileah began, standing before the small group. “First, I’d like to update you on the social media campaigns, which have exceeded expectations.”
Summoning her confidence, she forged on, highlighting the wins. She’d set up a special website to accept and track donations, so she shared engagement statistics and funds raised from the effort.
The board members exchanged impressed glances.
“My goodness, that didn’t take long,” Margaret said, surprised.
Maileah grinned. This was her first major presentation since she’d lost her job. “When I love something, my brain goes into overdrive.”
Ryan moved closer and raised his hand. “Can you tell us how you’re driving those engagement metrics?”
Maileah nodded, pulling out some charts she had prepared. “Because of targeted content posts, our social media followers have grown by a factor of four in the past week alone. We’re seeing a 500% increase in post engagement.The hashtag #UnbrokenAthletes is trending in surfing communities across the West Coast and breaking out nationwide. I’m using popular surf destination hashtags, so I expect even farther reach.”
As she continued her presentation, Maileah saw the board members growing more interested. She added, “To make the social media campaign even more successful, I need help.”
There was a moment of silence before Ella spoke up, “It sounds like you’re doing a fine job. What kind of help would you like?”
Maileah smiled at her. “A small volunteer team to manage social media will help continue the growth while I focus on the second phase of marketing to attract more donations and increase attendance. I don’t know many people here, so I welcome recommendations.”
“That could be arranged,” Margaret said while others nodded.
Maileah continued, outlining her ideas and plan. “Adrian Marino is writing a song he’s calling, ‘Unbroken.’ I’ve heard some of it, and it’s just what we need to strike a chord with people.”
Margaret grinned. “I look forward to hearing that. Adrian could have been a huge star.”
