Cheryl was the first person that I met with. She was the very start of the journey that has taken the name The Perspective Movement. Going into this project, I had never met someone online and then met them in person. The whole idea seemed weird to me. Looking back, it doesn’t make much sense that as an internet dweller, I was skeptical of other internet dwellers…

Anyway, the reason I chose to meet with Cheryl first was because she had specified that she has done something similar in the past. I kind of had a rough idea of what I wanted this project to be before I met with Cheryl, but I was extremely excited to have someone to talk to about to-dos and not-to-dos. My rough idea consisted of talking to random people about their passions. Everybody has their story. I thought that a good way to get it out of them would be to have them talk about their passions. One thing that I love is seeing someone’s face light up as they rant about something they are interested in. In that moment, you can feel their full emotion and can truly appreciate their perspective. That is what I hope to accomplish with this project. Cheryl helped me to think about possibilities for other questions I could use to structure conversation and ensure I have something interesting to say about each and every person I meet with.

Because Cheryl was the first person that I met with, this post will not follow the format of all future posts. The questions that facilitate meetings were simply not defined when I met with Cheryl. That is not to say that the meeting with Cheryl was not insightful. I still think I got a lot out of it and I’d like to share.

A Little Bit About Cheryl’s Passions

The one thing that stuck with me more than anything else after speaking with Cheryl is her passion to help the local businesses. In a way, these local businesses are the underdogs. They depend on the community. WIthout the community, they cease to exist. Cheryl has always been a strong supporter of local businesses  but it recently took a rather awesome turn when she started managing some social media aspects as a supplement to her full time job working in marketing at a large educational software firm. The social media management gigs are all about the local businesses. She wants nothing more than to use her skills to help promote local businesses around Columbus that she truly loves. In fact, she has had to turn down some small businesses in the Columbus area specifically because her support for them just wasn’t genuine. When asked if she would ever do this on a larger scale, Cheryl said that it would take a significant monetary benefit to convince her to do social media for a well known, nationwide company.

Another passion of Cheryl’s is meeting new people. This is probably obvious seeing as she has done her own project simliar to this one. In her version of this project, which she called “Fast Friends”, she met with 45 people over the span of a month and a half. She then did it again for another month a little while later. Cheryl didn’t have any specific questions or topics in mind during these meetups which allowed complete freedom of conversation. The point of her meetings was simply to make a lot of great connections and I think she certainly accomplished that. Spawning from fast friends, Cheryl was able to get employment in a time of need and make lifelong friends. Cheryl explained to me that every job she’s ever had came from knowing someone. Whether it was from meeting them at “Networking Sessions” or through Fast Friends, being open and eager about meeting new people has truly opened a lot of doors. 

A Little Bit of Other Stuff

Another side effect of Cheryl being the first person that I met with was my extreme nervousness. As I stated above, I had never met with someone in person that I originally met online. It was an awesome experience, but definitely nerve-racking at first. Still, I didn’t say half of the things that I wanted to say and my brain went blank more than enough times when I had developed a question that I wanted to ask. However, meeting with Cheryl made me warm up to the idea of meeting people from the internet in person. She didn’t kill me nor did she even try to! As more posts roll in, you’ll notice my increased comfort level and a deeper insight into other people’s perspectives. 

Check out Cheryl Harrison’s blog or follow her on twitter.