In 2025-26, my leadership has been only at Club level as the VPPR for Watabaruku Advanced. This is one of the few EXCO roles I hadn’t taken up in the past, and one that I had consistently shied away from as I am not the most creative person in the room, and I have a love-hate relationship with social media. All the same, taking up this role somehow gave me a stronger voice of sharing with others what Toastmasters offers and how it can benefit them.
The Watabaruku EXCO team had strong synergy and we complemented each other very well. The team understood my areas of weaknesses and remained supportive, encouraging and understanding throughout the year.
Being a member of EXCO of one club and mentoring a newly chartered club at the same stretched me. I used the lessons from the Watabaruku Advanced EXCO to share good practices with Runda Elite EXCO members. This somehow reduced the stress that could come from taking on two important roles.
It brought me great joy and a strong sense of achievement when I received my DTM award. It reminded me of the undeniable power of teamwork and mentorship. The triple crown (DTM, and two levels from two different pathways) was made possible by accountability, especially from the VPE of Watabaruku Advanced, DTM Dr Kevin Rubia.
Something else I wish to celebrate is running speech crafts; one with community members with Chris Mogaka of Mombasa Island and a corporate one with Mercy Chege of The Thika Toastmasters. I owe this step to run a speechcraft to the encouragement from Div C Director - Elect, Dan Odero. I see speechcraft as a great opportunity for members of the community to learn about Toastmasters then determine if this is the space for them; perhaps this can help reduce attrition of new members. It also gives us a space to help people see what Toastmasters offers. The benefit for the members who run it is that they can get an award towards the DTM award whilst raising funds for their clubs. I learned a lot during the speechcraft which means it is also a learning platform for the coordinator. Word of caution - it is demanding but it is rewarding.
Toastmasters leadership is demanding of your time. Working with people who are supportive and reliable makes it easier. Also, almost any technical challenge you encounter can be addressed at the touch of a button - either calling other leaders or hitting the search button on the Toastmasters website or sending an email to TMI if you cannot get answers from other members. In short, reaching out to others and making use of the resources at hand helps to address challenges encountered.
"I made a vow to always show up when I say I would—and to avoid being the kind of person who people know they cannot fully rely on."
Every role has its own challenges. Do not focus so much on this that you forget to focus on the highlights of the role. When it gets hard, identify people you can reach out to. If the first person is not able to help you, reach out to another and then another, until you get the help you need.
I don’t know if I succeeded or not, but my practice generally is to be reliable. When I say I will do something, I will ensure I show up unless there’s a strong reason why I have to withdraw. I picked this when I first joined Toastmasters in 2016 when I saw how last-minute withdrawal from roles could throw the TMOD off and affect the quality of the meeting, thus making a poor impression on guests. In 2016 we did not have WhatsApp which made finding last minute role takers hard. I made a vow to always show up when I say I would - and to avoid being the kind of person who people know they cannot fully rely on. Yes - I know life can throw us off and it has inevitably happened to me a couple of times, but this should be on rare occasions.
For anyone coming in as the VPPR, let’s spread the Toastmasters word way outside our clubs. As a good leader, we should focus on growing the Organization, not just our clubs.
As much as I did not want to and was looking forward to a quiet year, I will be in two EXCOs. Priority is to have tools ready for these roles and plan my calendar well so that I also continue to pursue my education goals, and also avoid Toastmasters related burnout.
Honestly, I haven’t thought about this yet.
I’m the type of person who is still stuck in the dark ages of writing things down (paper and pen) otherwise I will soon forget. Typing doesn’t have the same memory imprint as writing does. Try writing things down on a paper and tell me how that works for you.
I hope to remain motivated to grow the Toastmasters brand as the place for growing better communicators and leaders. Toastmasters as a community brings different experiences to the table. Each one of us has our own strengths and weaknesses - including me. If we all recognize this, we can build an even stronger community as we support each other in our quest for growth.