Search for a home on any device, any time, anywhere. Private property, a home for everyone. Good afternoon South Africa and welcome to Afternoon Express. My name is Danilo Acquisto. So today is a very big day. First of all, it's the start of the weekend and now we've all been looking forward to that. Second of all, it's payday for some and thirdly and very importantly, it's the launch of SA's best interior design and reality day call competition. It's Winner Home. Over the next 17 weeks you'll watch three competing design teams turn three white box homes into dream living spaces and the name says it all. By the end of this competition you could walk away with a brand new home designed and furnished by one of our amazing competing design duos. This is the biggest prize on South African television valued at a whopping 3 million rand and it's all happening right here on Afternoon Express. Now once again, Winner Home is brought to you by Private Property, one of SA's leading online property portals. Plascon will provide a splash of colour and Caesar Stone has our design duos covered with luxury engineered quartz surfaces. First, you must be wondering where this year's big prize is located. Well, our competition homes will be taking shape in one of the most desirable lifestyle estates in Khauteng. It's Eye of Africa. Private Property gives us a bird's eye view of the stunning estate. For many searching for their dream home, the journey begins at Private Property. The website boasts a wide variety of estate property options including new developments in the south of Johannesburg. Situated in the high-fold landscape of Ekenhof, Eye of Africa estate is nestled between Elberton and Krasmia. It's just 17 kilometres from the city centre and enjoys close proximity to good schools, hospitals and other amenities like horse riding. Hi, I'm Belinda Martin and I'm the owner of Penbridge Christian Centre and this is Boforn in Glovy. Boforn is one of our coaches. We live in the Alavainsport Valley and Penbridge's been here for 22 years. Boforn and I have lived here all our lives. I started to work here. I was a groom. I'm now a coach and I've also got my son also riding here. And I'm doing so well. I like my job and I've been here for many years. Actually, I was born here. I like to live in the south. The south is a nice place for us. It's my home. The lovely thing about the Alavainsport Valley is if you have a look around, we are just outside of town with the Mall of the South, 15 minutes away, 10 minutes away, Waterston College, 6 minutes away. My daughter's grown up on a farm. We have a farm lifestyle. It's peaceful. There's still a lot of nature. We also have the Eye of Africa Golf Course right on our doorstep. And as far as the states go, if you've been in there, it's very scenic. They've kept it natural. The kids can walk over there and take part in whatever activities and we do holiday activities. So there's a lot to do in a wholesome environment. There are other estates in the area, but only Eye of Africa is home to the first Greg Norman design championship course in South Africa. The vision in this golf and residential estate is to create vibrant recreational and social community hubs thanks to the many communal leisure areas and facilities enjoyed by all the residents. I think first and foremost what attracted us to Eye of Africa estate is the lifestyle. You drive through the gates and it's like being in the country. It's beautiful. It's tranquil. It's a different lifestyle from the concrete jungle. I work in Sampson and that's a stone throw away from Sampson, but you really do feel like you are in the country. The estate has beautiful facilities. We've got two res fronts, the Delhi and with the Delhi we've got a little shop. The Delhi has quite a nice history because it's got the oldest school house in Khateng. So it's quite unique that we have this beautiful old and new mixed together. So our little shop is actually housed in this old school house. We combine picnic stuff and have a picnic in one of our beautiful gardens. The Delhi restaurant, you can actually come and hire the Delhi and have your family and friends over. The greens grill house fits more into the golf. The golfing members, visitors that can have a meal, have a breakfast there or luncheon. But family in the estate can also go after work and have a meal at the greens. For the more active residents, we've got beautiful walking trails. You can take a walk along the estate boundary wall. We've got cycling trails in and outside of the estate. And then obviously the golf course itself is beautiful. I'm an avid golfer so golfing is a big thing in my life as well as my family's. We've got quite a big golfing community here. Beautiful facilities, the driving range, the chipping green, the putting green. Even though we're close enough to the CBD, I mean these shopping centres on our doorstep, it still feels like we're in the countryside. Once you through the gates, it's beautiful. It's tranquil, it's peaceful. It's the perfect lifestyle just to stay in this estate where everything is at your fingertips. One of the most important considerations for anyone purchasing at the Eye of Africa over and above the lifestyle is the security. We have a clear view fence surrounding the entire perimeter of the estate. The technology used on this fence is fibre optic detection and we can hone in directly to any disturbance or intrusion. And the security company is immediately alerted and can react to that exact point. Purchases have a number of options when buying at the Eye of Africa. The developers have opened three new villages offering different kinds of stands. We have magnificent stands on one of the copies and we have two cluster offerings within the Eye of Africa. The stone quarter development where we have three and four-bedroomed homes, completed homes starting from 2.7 million round and Origins cluster development where we have slightly larger clusters, 320 square metres starting from 4.3 million round. They're both beautifully appointed with fully integrated SMEG appliances and lots to offer. We're proving very, very popular with purchasers who don't want to engage with an architect or a builder and are wanting to come into the estate and buy a fully completed home. Well, this spot up here on Panorama Drive really captures the Eye of Africa. The magnificent mountain in the backdrop, the beautiful dams, the fairways and the magnificent bushveld. I think this is the Eye of Africa. Enjoying the tranquility of nature while also having the city on your doorstep. The Eye of Africa Gulf and Residential Estate offers a lifestyle that is the best of both worlds. Go to privateproperty.co.za, watch the neighbourhood videos and find your dream home. Private Property, a home for everyone. Private Property offers the widest variety of online property listings available for sale or rent across South Africa. They make finding your dream home so simple with their easy to use website and we couldn't be more proud to once again have Private Property as one of our partners on Winter Home 2017. Private Property is a website that features thousands of new properties every single day from real estate agents, banks, developers. So if you're searching for your new home you'll definitely find it on our site. Winter Home is the biggest, baddest property show on TV. You've got to be part of it. You've got all of the elements that make for great TV but also for great property exposé. You've got design, you've got the drama of the various contestants and the challenges and the budgets and the time pressure. So it's really exciting to see what Winter Home has become over the three seasons that we've been involved and I'm absolutely looking forward to this one. I think it's a natural fit for Private Property to be involved with Winter Home. Winter Home is this national platform about design and property and Private Property is a digital platform about everything real estate. So the fit between our two brands is obvious. We're integrating the digital and the TV side of the show. Private Property is obviously a major national platform for real estate and we've built out a digital TV channel. So if you miss the show on TV you can follow it on Private Property. We're going to have all the episodes. We're going to have the social media feeds and of course we're going to have the competition entry all integrated into the Private Property platform. I think one thing that's really exciting is that we're incorporating the viewer's choice into the show. It's fine to have a couple of expert judges but we think that the viewers ultimately judge what's best when it comes to South African property and South African design. So you'll be able to vote for your favourite team your favourite room and ultimately enter the grand prize as well. Private Property will be bringing you a weekly property advice segment with their tip of the week. Whether you are a first time home buyer needing guidance through the whole process or have burning questions on tenant or landlord issues, Private Property has all the expert advice. Design is really what unlocks the potential of property. It's the way spaces are configured the aesthetics, the flow between various rooms and we sit on the property side of the design equation and it's really great to see how design can affect the valuation of property, how an asset can grow just with a good lick of paint or a good design eye. So that's what's really interesting for us is to see how design can really impact on a property's value. There's still so much more Winner Home excitement to come so after the break we introduce you to our magazine mentors as well as our fantastic judges and then later in the show we introduce Home on Afternoon Express where three talented design duos turn three white box living spaces into dream homes one of which you could win. Now throughout the series each of our talented design duos will receive guidance and sage advice from essays leading design lifestyle magazines VC, Habitat and House and Leisure so without any further ado let's meet those mentors. I'm Annemarie Mainkees deputy editor for VC magazine VC is a lifestyle magazine and we zoom in more on architecture and interior design and we stay away from scatter cushions. I have been in so many homes I've been in so many lodges and I've been in so many hotels and we live for days because we photograph when we leave a space we know everything that worked and that didn't work and I believe that experience is what I need to advise my duo to make the right decision. The type of mentor I'll be I will let them come up with ideas but it's going to be very hard for me to keep my mouth shut because I am a bit outspoken. I think what is important for VC is to choose a duo that is young and has a future ahead of them and a love for colour, for interiors for architecture a sound knowledge of design for me it's not about winning but what is very important for me is that this program is going to establish them as interior designers of the future Winner Home is the only competition on television for young designers and it is going to open doors. My name is Amanda Graham and I am the Deputy Managing Editor for Habitat magazine. There are various sections that make up Habitat, Interior Design, Decor, Architecture, Art Travel to name a few. My day-to-day activities as Deputy Managing Editor are to manage the office the staff within the working space looking for interiors to feature in Habitat and I believe that my skills knowledge and experience will assist the duo that I am assigned to work with throughout the series. The ideal duo for me would be one which displays enthusiasm, talent, passion and inspiration. As a mentor I would be working very closely with my duo giving them confidence and encouragement at all times so I will be very hands on and obviously I would be very proud of them if Habitat were to win the competition. I think Winner Home is a great competition. It is the only one of its kind in this country. It gives young aspirational interior designers an opportunity to prove themselves within a certain deadline period and to be able to use the tools, materials, the expertise and knowledge that they have in creating a beautiful home on a limited budget. My name is Tiar Nakel I'm the editor at Haasam Leisure I feel what sets us apart at HL is that we celebrate local design. We look at international trains and we digest and we morph them for a local audience. I'm looking for someone with an opinion, someone that understands what they're trying to achieve so not necessarily someone that slavishly follow train, someone that can interpret and ultimately I want my readers and your viewers to look at the project and go, I get that this is Mr. X or Mr. X or whatever their handwriting and personality needs to come across. My expectations from a mentor's point of view is that they really use their time coming off for renovation myself because there's never enough money there's never enough time and that you really need to apply yourself and focus on the task at hand. I've been told I'm a little bit controlling so this is going to be a challenge for me going into this process. I hope I would be able to mentor in a way that the doer feels that they've got free reign to do their thing but of course I'm going to give my input as well and mould and shape where I think things could be better so hopefully collaboration if we get it right if not I'll take them out for a drink and make up for it if they hate me we'll see. What I hope from this process is that we get to put a new creative team on the map that we get to showcase their talent and introduce them to the industry and hopefully give them that step up that platform and kick start their career. Now that we've met the magazine Head Hunters who will be mentoring our competing designers it's time for us to find out who has the tough job of judging this year's winner home design duos. The winner is Donald Romano. After winning season one of Winner Home I was given incredible opportunities to work in different areas. I've set up the business to work in residential markets, high-end residential office work as well as hospitality industry and in every case we have given as a team 100% and have produced work and that is creative and work that has been applauded and so it is an incredible honour to come back as a judge on the show and impart my skills and my knowledge. Winning the competition definitely puts you in a league of its own because it makes people aware that you are a credible as a designer because it is on a national TV show. The exposure that comes with that means that people are more aware of you and you are able to get to more people's vocabulary and their homes because you are on TV. Looking back at some of the mainly great advice that we got on the show I look back and I think the best advice must have come from Stephen Fogg. He said keep it simple and he also said that the ultimate in luxury is comfort. I was able to take that advice and really implemented in my designs and the result were these very elegant sophisticated effortless interiors and that is the advice that I would give to all the contestants is really to keep it simple and when you design, design around the human being ultimately you can create luxurious interiors but they really need to be comfortable. The process of grueling especially putting together an interior in front of cameras I mean it is difficult enough doing that without any cameras in your face so the failures are seen on camera the successes are seen on camera I think having been in that competition I look at it with a little bit more empathy but I know that they have helped so not too much empathy. I'm looking forward to great drama because of the team dynamic of the show I'm looking forward to how the teams interact amongst one another but ultimately I'm looking forward to great design and great competition. I'm Katlecha Kondlor I work for Plaskon and I am the premium category brand manager so I look after the premium brands within Plaskon with my background with Plaskon and with Tames. Colour is quite important but designers might also tend to forget about the functionality of the product so I'll be looking at both I'll also be looking at how they incorporate the psychology of colour into their design because that's quite key colour impacts us in so many ways that we're not ordinarily aware of it can change the space without even changing the furniture so that's what I'm going to be looking at how they incorporate colour not only on the walls but also on their finishing touches your cushions and so forth The advice that I would give to the contestants is to have a look at spaces that are liveable you haven't made the clients but the space is really there to be lived in so the livability needs to be primary but their personalities must also show through it's one thing to follow the trains but at times you shouldn't sacrifice their personality for trains so I'll be looking at their personality how they've incorporated that into their design but as well as is the design actually practical and is it liveable Interior designers tend to have a specific style they have personalities and they tend to gravitate towards what they've done previously and what they know I believe that having editors in this season is fantastic because they tend to have wider range of styles and trains so they won't be limited to a specific way of designing so I think it's fantastic When it comes to judging this season I think I will be quite a practical judge I tend to be leaning more on practical the other judges will bring quite a lot of aesthetic looking at design and so forth whereas I'm going to be looking for more practicality when it comes to design Now each week Donald and Katlechol will have a guest judge join them on the panel including industry luminaries such as Steven Falk Ntabi Taoko Bong, David Moerhead and even Steven Pelerade to name a few so follow the journey to see the big names of interior design lend their expertise to win a home Now after the break we meet our exciting design duo so you stay right where you are Because if it doesn't improve people's lives it isn't Plaskon Plaskon designed for life This is the season premiere of Winner Home on Afternoon Express Welcome back Now previously on the competition designers have competed as individuals This year we've decided to double up on great homegrown talent with designers competing as duos Chosen by Hausen Leisure Magazine is a pair that believes their great professional relationship will translate into great design in the competition They are Vanelle Koza and Cephosia Leza My name is Vanelle Koza and I'm an artist My name is Cephosia Leza and I'm an interior designer We're so excited to be one of the final duos only because we've been trying for the past years to enter It's actually been three years since we've been trying but we are so grateful that we made the cut because we didn't believe that it was gonna happen because on the day that we got the call we waited like the whole day and then I remember I tweeted It doesn't matter what happens you should always follow your dreams and then nine minutes after I sent a tweet I get an email I read the first few lines just happened Vanelle, congratulations I didn't even read the rest of the email I grew up in a small little town between Mathi King and Lex Timbeck and I was staying with my mom that side She passed away just before I turned seven so ever since I've been staying with my grandmother she's like my mom, she inspires me like she's that person who when she wants something she goes after it When it comes to interior design I remember this one day we were watching top building and then my cousin she suggested that oh you maybe you should study interior design since you love art and then I thought what's this interior design I went and checked it out and I found out that it is something that I can enjoy doing myself and my love for it grew from there I grew up in Latikulu, Swaziland I actually got my inspiration and to actually be an artist from watching television and also with press like magazines so that's why I actually began everything in regards to interior space it's been my secret love like ever since and I do it when my mother would be at school and I just like shifting things around and then she'd always been pressed for me drawing became a friend to me because I didn't grow up interacting with a lot of people it's still the same today I mean I interact with plants because I think of them as more of my children it's actually love because you give them water and they give back to you with their beauty and also actually paint so after painting I've learnt that there's a carrier in collecting as well so also curate spaces and I'll also lecture as well when Sampo left his job as an interior architect I thought he was crazy but it was great because it inspired me the effect that he can actually focus and say this is what I want to do meaning he didn't want to do 95 anymore and then I called him into my company and asked him can you please help me with just a few things so that we get things going only because I knew he's like avid with detail and for me I'm not so much into detail I'm just like okay that's fine and he's like no I'm crazy with detail obsessively crazy what inspired us to enter as a duo it's because we actually work together like we get along we've done projects that have sent us to Cape Town and all that and I was never frustrated with him so another thing that makes it interesting is our different design backgrounds he's a fine artist I'm an interior designer we thought like that would be like a nice combination and it would bring about something different but at the same time I think we kind of clash in terms of style because I like flowers a whole lot of flowers well not that I don't like flowers he doesn't not that none of them I appreciate a flower here and there not like a whole nether in my house we've known each other for six years and since we've known each other that long I believe that we're going to be like the bomb in this competition our next design duo will be combining a deep passion for design and aesthetics with a keen interest in real estate selected from all the entrants my VC magazine on Porm Pacha aka import designer and Lessecho Masekela I'm Lessecho Masekela I am an interior designer and I'm going to be South Africa's greatest interior designer Hi I'm Port Designer and I'm an interior designer I studied at Tharn University of Technology so this is a platform for me and Lessecho to expose more about ourselves and we think it's about time now we let South Africa know what we are capable of doing I am the youngest of two children and I was raised by a single mother very close with my mother and she actually inspired me to carry on into interior design with her love for beautiful things specifically beautiful homes during the day I spend a lot of my time revamping some of the furniture at home especially with my mother we bond over it quite a bit actually my entire family is quite involved with interior design my sister has three children and they also come along shopping with us to see decor and they also have their own ideas about it my love for interior design comes from my grand she inspired me a lot from since I was a child my grand used to work for a fragrance company so I was inspired by different smells to create a beautiful space so I used to take this lavender smell and put it with a potpourri smell and also a clean linen smell and put it in another room and to other create different types of spaces at the same time and then that's why I saw it in me that I have that interior design thing I'm based in Sichanguwe and I get most of my inspiration that I implement in the designs from where I come from so I never forget where I come from basically so I'm a community based guy that does a lot of I wouldn't say community based work but advice most residents where I stay to like have a better understanding of how design works like for colour psychology kind of those things Boy and I have very different personalities he's got a very good eye and a good vision whereas I'm more technical we also have very different styles and aesthetics he has a more contemporary but modern look whereas I like empty clean spaces so I think when that comes together it makes for a very beautiful end product and we also are very inspired by modern art in our city right now we love to go to galleries and look through what's happening right now or what people are seeing as happening right now in the art world Lessoho, she's a very brilliant designer she's the person that makes me think that design is like music you can speak two different languages but as long as you can flow with the song it can be a beautiful song definitely, definitely agree with that sometimes I do put him to work and make him do things he doesn't want to do but he has to do it she's like a mum hey, you know how a mum is like go and do your homework so I ended up doing my homework yes but we are definitely going to be the best duo all the way around competition two down and one to go after the break we introduce you to our final design duo and these guys bring all the razzle and the dazzle you do not want to miss this welcome back you've met two of our design duos competing on Winner Home on Afternoon Express and our final pair are both partners personally and professionally and have had success in the fashion world they have big dreams for a future in interior design and they'll be representing Habitat magazine say hello to Brad and Abiyah Superstar my name's Abiyah Superstar and I'm Bradley Mattet and watch out for us to razzle dazzle and take over the interior world I started out growing up as a child that was obsessed with fashion I spent my life dressing up dolls as a child I can see you doing that and after school I went to go study my B.Com communication yeah it wasn't for me and in my late 20s I had this still this creative urge and that's when I decided to study fashion together with Abiyah we started Amen Fashion I have the same background as Bradley where I also studied at law like studying law and it was oh hell no if I'm going to be the judge it's the judge of fashion so studied fashion and that's where we made each other and from that get go we just knew we wanted to be the first and the last word in fashion and try to take over the world we started a fashion brand together and one thing led to another they say business doesn't mix with pleasure but we like to break the glass I'd say and I always called it my baby daddy because we got two Yorkies baby bus and baby bitch keep us very busy sure and little fashionistas we actually did design like a capsule range for them which we stocked at a local store yes good store we are now our it's like interchangeable we've got I think the same taste absolutely over the top OTT this is not more it's less more is more more always always we've actually hosted our own fashion show we've done a lot of pop-ups it's finally fashion week we run programs with women at different recreation centres like teaching them actually how to so how to take your fashion business to the next level it's like nice to be able to have passed on some of the things that we've learned challenges hurdles like budgets they get smaller and smaller design is going to get bigger and bigger yeah we are super duper over the moon stars and the galaxy excited we're super excited to be chosen for the season of Winner Home you know when a wild card wins that's how it felt when they picked us because it was usually no no you guys are too much whoa stop the lorry stop the track and this time around it was so nice to be chosen because we loved it yeah we've entered in previous years we watched it every year we love it so we thought we'd use our creative flair and give this competition a shot yeah make someone win a home with a little razzle yeah in terms of fashion we use a lot of the decor like to actually create a space that you'd want to shop in so it's a natural transition as the artists that we are to like mix decor then you sell your items but you can't just have a white wall and plunk the garments people will be mmm they won't fail yeah and we've always been creative that in our space we wanted it to be creative absolutely yeah so when you walk in you feel the sense of this room has got a life or it's something it feels yeah with fashion keeping us busy and now interior that's going to turn that wheel around and around and around and around there's a popular saying that goes success is a journey it's not a destination and if that's the case then our winner home journey must begin our contestants made their way to i've Africa estate to receive the keys to the homes they'll be decorating and to meet their mentors so let the competition begin it's time to take out our hammers drills, nails because team habitat is the dream team and we're in it to win it we're in the game and we're going to kill it and I think we are going to show South Africa what we're capable of doing this is a dream come true and we can't wait to get our hands dirty we got this yes contestants welcome to the stone quarter development in the hearts of the i've Africa golf and residential estate behind me are the three homes that you'll be decorating and I'm sure you're dying to get started but first we need to determine which unit you'll be calling home for the next 14 weeks inside this hat are three keys with each design contestant team come and select one set of keys from the hat we're actually very nervous right now because we don't know which house we're going to get and also will it have enough light so nervous picture well we definitely hope we get the best unit as all of the duos would want I'm betting with all my heart that Lesova has magic hands yes lucky fingers I hope we get the stand that's far away from our neighbours that's what I'm hoping for there's three stands two stands are next to each other one stands around the corner sure sure we don't want neighbours peeping over well there you have it contestants the key in your hand could represent the key to the future of your design success contestants go forth and decorate are you ready to win a home? I am I am ready to win this okay so this would be the lounge we've just walked in and seen the house it's amazing a lot's got to be done a lot a lot but it's better than the rest yeah smashing down walls lifting in glass lifting up ceilings putting in an upstairs and maybe a downstairs basement everything but the glad we're so glad okay so this would be what like the first bedroom first bedroom yeah the lights on no oh yeah to a good start a winning one hello hello hello oh you're good to meet you nice to see you I'm delighted with our duo they were my first preference I think they're flamboyant they're eccentric they've got great energy I think we're going to work well together I'm looking forward to mentoring them how do you think that we should best utilise this area I think that we should possibly consider concealing a portion of the kitchen area absolutely because it's a very open plan and right now things are divided yeah it does just to give privacy between kitchen lounge and the living area and the person doing the dishes you don't want to kiss the right way you are having do you want to see the rest of the place yeah let's take you around great I think if you have a vision generally which they do have for fashion they'll be able to apply that to design we are entering the house we're overwhelmed the reality has set in and we're about to start this competition and I'm glad that it's a white box that we need to work inside of it but we're going to have to think outside of the box and inside the box yep ooh I think it's going to be a very amazing bedroom what do you think I think it's going to be amazing I think we can have the bed, the headboard all paper kittens everywhere just like a hotel you get my point like yes so let's do this hello ah there you are you've been through everything ah animalry oh wow what do you think well I think we can turn this space into a marvelous place this is where we're going to show people that design is actually in loving exactly you're so happy it's a nice duo they're young they're creative and they think young which is not a normal thing when you get to designers or decorators there's always too much fabric involved and too many scatter cushions this is going to be the most challenging space it's not private at all at all oh that's why I bought you some magazines oh lovely we'll keep you busy on the weekend thank you but we'll just enjoy it let's talk let's keep communicating take care good luck all the best all the best I try and tell them to go for as little as possible so that there's space for the human being who lives in the house otherwise it's too cluttered ooh la la oh wow this is so beautiful we are walking into the house for the first time and all we're seeing is the blank canvas I'm so scared I didn't have enough practice with designing a whole entire house but I've had a bit of experience with my place like just curating it and doing all that oh wow I think this is the master bedroom this is the bathroom oh wow I love this whole wall we didn't see anything at all no we didn't see anything at all I wanted to show I didn't know it'll be so lovely to have the bed that side I think that's where it's supposed to be no I wanted that side no, two flags that side no I wanted this side we have a mentor so I hope he's here then we can ask him yes and I think it'll be nice let him have it with me hi ti morning it's apple how are you? nice to meet you but cool we are already having a turf or the positioning of the bed yeah clearly we didn't struggle in each other just got our own time perfect well while we're here let's discuss the patio that'll be perfect what are you guys thinking of doing outside? a day bed here and then on the side we can have like two hanging eggs those egg chairs and then the center it can be a coffee like kind of setup so predominantly furniture you're not going to introduce some greens greens so the greens will mostly be at the garden area because we're going to have a pond there I'm really excited to be working with Banele and Seppo both of them have an artistic background and they both seem calm tempered and well mannered all of those things that you need to take you through this process I'm looking really forward to working with them so this is where we fought a lot we think like I was personally thinking of having the bed that side since the platform is already that side I think it'll be easier and for privacy yes I agree with you you don't want to walk in and see your bed first I think there's something nice about having that on that side of the room I just wanted to be spiced there's already been a bit of rivalry between the two of them which I think would create healthy competition and would make all the projects and as the rooms unfold give it a little bit of dynamic well it looks like we're in for a whole lot of inspire design and creative ideas in Winner Home this year we're taking a quick break but when we return find out how life has changed for our previous seasons grand prize winners welcome back Winner Home boasts the biggest prize on South African television a designer furnished dream home with more than 3 million rand now if you are already imagining winning that grand prize then here's some more inspiration to enter as our previous winners share how Winner Home has changed their lives in the first season of Winner Home Josh Glok won a stunning property at Stain City designed by Kim Hutton sure I mean the butterflies are there I was super super nervous it took me a few seconds to realise what I'd actually won and what was actually in the save but when I did I mean I was having an unreal feeling absolutely incredible opening the front door to my first home having a professionally interior designed home to start off with at 23 it's absolutely incredible I mean I'm immensely blessed and lucky the season 2 winner of an apartment at Ilana Views Estate in Umschlange Ridge was Kajal Siraj a teacher from rural KZN she won this house I'm overwhelmed I'm excited I'm anxious I want to jump for joy oh my word this is so amazing now that I've won this flat it's completely changed my life I've got a holiday home for my family and I so we can visit whenever we want to not paying for accommodation and we can all get together and just come and just hang out last year's winner of a designer apartment in the Polo Village at Valdavi Estate was Lucky Palesa Moisi I stand still for a moment I didn't like my mind was somewhere else it was just a few seconds then after I realized hey I need to take out my key and change to everybody but it was beautiful it was nice it was so unbelievable this opportunity it's going to change my life forever I think for now I'll rent the house and then so that I can pay for my fees it's because we're struggling my mother she's a single parent and I'm still I still have a younger sister so this thing can change our lives forever our design duos will be competing for prizes but the real winner here could be you throughout Winner Home there'll be fantastic opportunities for you to win bi-weekly prizes to enter simply go online to privateproperty.co.za and vote for your favorite Winner Home design duo each of your entries into the bi-weekly competition will automatically enter you into our grand prize competition where you could win your choice of one of three homes as completed by our design duos this week you could win a silly post-opedic mattress and bass set providing you with healthy sleep and a healthy life all the T's and C's can be found on privateproperty.co.za this season of Winner Home is undoubtedly going to be the most exciting yet and to get things started our design duos, their mentors, judges, sponsors and the media all recently gathered at the Eye of Africa to celebrate the launch of the 2017 edition of the competition a glamorous event at the old school deli at Eye of Africa Estates served as the perfect platform to reveal the selected design duos and rub shoulders with the who's who of Josie's property and design scene well it's fantastic to have Winner Home back in Johannesburg after it originated here went down to Durban, Cape Town we're bringing it back we're at the beautiful Eye of Africa Estates to host the fourth season with I believe not eccentric but exceptional contestants this year and we look forward to this challenge obviously in partnership with Winner Home firstly Eye of Africa as a property is absolutely remarkable I mean imagine winning a home on one of the most beautiful Estates in Johannesburg the sunset that we witnessed tonight was absolutely magnificent the homes around here are so glorious so I think this is possibly going to be our their season of Winner Home well Caesartone is delighted to be involved with Winner Home again this year last year was an amazing success and I think the idea for us is to be involved with emerging young designers we're excited about design we're excited about young people finding their feet in design and just watching them as they build their career into something wonderful that's what it's about what wonderful memories coming back and this time coming back as a judge and seeing all the creativity and seeing all the contestants I'm just so excited for them I'm so excited for what's to come I'm excited for all the drama that's coming and I get to judge all the creativity as first gone we're not just here to give a splash of colour we're just here to support young talent and being part of this initiative is actually something that we really really feel deep in our hearts because we are actually about design for life and having seen the duos and actually the talent and the passion behind it it's actually exactly who we are about and we're so excited to be once again part of this initiative being introduced to everyone here at the launch was so humbling so honoured there were so many people that I would not have had the opportunity to meet had I not been here so I'm very grateful to be part of one of the top lead duos if it wasn't for hard work we wouldn't have been here so I think hard work is also part of making your dreams come true and we can do it we can kill it it is insane to be part of the top 3 and especially growing up watching it on TV and you just like all of a sudden you're the one on the stage and it's like dreams come true actually we're also excited to have met like the sponsors and everybody else who's going to be contributing towards the project and another thing that I saw amazing is to have met Donald it's been very exciting like having the launch at IAB Africa where we're going to be designing one of the homes which we are very excited for and we should deliver what we have promised and more sizzling stuff the Razzle and Dazzle absolutely SMBC3 is very excited and looking forward to the new exciting season of Winner Home biggest prize on TV and we can't wait to drive it on air and get as many people voting so the stage is yours watch the show to win the exciting prize I already have my favourites I know that that's probably not allowed but I've got my eye on the duo that I think are more than likely going to take it they've got it in the bag one lucky duo will win themselves the biggest prize on South African television at home worth more than three million around our design contestants have all the cards to play and we can't wait to see what design inspiration we bring to South African TV only on SMBC3 the stage is yours it's crazy how time flies next week our design duos get started on decorating their first space the guest bedroom thanks once again to Private Property Plaskon and Caesarstone the official sponsors of Winner Home for more information on the competition click on to privateproperty.co.za and don't forget to connect with Winner Home on social media join us again next Friday at 4pm on afternoon for more local design decor and real estate only on Winner Home search for a home on any device any time anywhere Private Property a home for everyone UNEXPRESS made with love by Clover never feel good production


So recently, I did a video about putting things that the community made on the shelves behind me. Well, these are a few things that were sent in and we're gonna check them out today. My name's Jim and this is The Edge of Tech. So like I said, after this video right here, a few people in the community have started sending in their projects. And I am super excited to dive in here and see what they sent. Right away I want to say this one right here is from David Wilson. This one right here looks like it's from Paul Feeney. And this one is from one of the Council of Andrews, Andrew Rogers. If you're one of those three gentlemen, thank you so much for sending this stuff in. I cannot wait to see what's in these boxes. Let's do it. So I think today we're going to start with the smallest box and work our way to the biggest. I don't know why I just decided that. So David Wilson and Andrew, we're going to set you right over here. Paul, we're starting with you. So I got my trusty knife here. Let's cut this bad boy open and see what Paul sent in. I really appreciate anything being sent. I'm super excited to see what actually was sent in because I want to put some awesome stuff on the shelves. If you're looking to send anything in, I got a knife so I'm looking down. Well, here we go. Took me a minute to cut that one, Paul. All right, if you're looking to send something in, we'll throw the address in the description below. And I'm going to pop this bad boy open. So it looks like there's a little more tape that I missed. I pop this thing open and there's a note. I print very good with filament. This print came out very well. The model was by Sid Neek. I am probably saying that wrong. I say that wrong every time on Hot Makes 2. I am so sorry. Sid Neek, we're going to go with that. Printer was the new Talking Printer Wizmaker P1, the Arian Gray filament. It's a .5 nozzle, .1 layer height. Thank you so much, Paul Feeney. So in the box we got a couple of things. So let's pop this bad boy open. Love the bubble wrap, Paul. Love the bubble wrap. Man, this looks amazing. That is the bottom of a bust and Paul was not wrong. This print is absolutely gorgeous, Paul. Nice work. I'm curious. What do we got on the top half? This was a Sid Neek model. Someone correct me in the comments below. I know I'm saying that wrong and I apologize greatly. All right. Let's pop a little head on there. There we go. Look at that. Now that is pretty dang awesome. This is a great bust.  I don't think he said, whoa, we got a head falling. This is obviously blown up. I don't think he said how big this was. He just said it was Arian Gray filament, .5 nozzle, .1 layer height on the Wizmaker P1. This absolutely looks awesome, Paul. For now, Paul, I'm going to set your bust right here, right there in the shot. Paul Feeney, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Oh, I love how the light's hitting it too. It's like, bam, right in the background. Like it's like it's staring at me. Box number two comes to us from Andrew Rogers. Thank you so much, Andrew. I can't wait to see what you shot over.  It can be any maker thing you want. So as long as it's appropriate, we'll get it either on one of these videos and or on HotMakes as well. All right. Here we go. Pop this open. Oh, we have a note. Jim, thought you could use one of my new classic chess rooks for the display of your new studio. It's been scaled up 450% and printed in Greengate 3D Black Raspberry Recycled PETG. I love Greengate 3D. I love the recycled PETG. And this color is phenomenal. Infill is minimal, so it should be pretty translucent if lit properly. I'm going to have to get some lights. As a bonus, I've thrown in one of the print-in-place Fidget Maker coins for funsies. For funsies, keep up the great work. Andrew Rogers, Council of Andrews member 0008. So member number eight, Council of Andrews. Thank you so much, Andrew. All right. Let's check this out. Let's start with the Fidget Print-in-place toy here. Has an AR on it for Andrew Rogers, I'm assuming. And it has Silver Sun Beam around the whole outside. I believe that's Andrew's business, Silver Sun Beam. And this thing spins so good. Nice work. I believe he designed this himself. Let me know, Andrew, in the comments below. This thing spins really, really nice. You can hear it probably in the microphone. And it's a very nice print. I absolutely love this idea. Tolerances are great. Whatever you printed this on, nice work. So we'll put that there. And the piece of resistance, this is the Rook. This is absolutely awesome. It is light. It is very translucent. Man, this print is really nice too, Andrew. It looks like you did the seam all in one place along the back. So that's really awesome. This looks so good, Andrew. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. I think I'm going to toss this one on this side today. Andrew, thank you so much for the print. I really appreciate it, man. It's going to live up here. I don't know if it'll live on that side very long, or I'm just going to light it maybe from the bottom to really show it off. But thank you so much. It means a lot. And I'm probably going to play with this all night on Hot Makes coming up on Monday. Thanks, Andrew. On to box number three, this one right here. Now I've had this for a little while. And it is from David Wilson. I do know what's in this one, and I'm so excited to get it out and share it with you. So, David, thank you so much for supporting the channel. Thank you for sending stuff. I mean, this is the second item of this genre that you sent me. I really, really appreciate that. And I hope I get to meet you someday. Maybe Murph. Hopefully you get to Murph this year or something. That would be awesome. If you've been checking out David's channel at all, I'm going to pop that in the description below. He's been talking about these for a while.  I would love to see that. And I'll definitely promote you. And David has packed this thing very, very well. Probably because of how incredibly fragile it probably is. David, I love the reuse of spool boxes. It looks like you like a lot of the GS3D spool. I've never used it, Black Edition. But very good idea to pack your boxes with boxes. I mean, I can tell you this. He has his machines dialed in. They are, it's looking good. Now this is battery driven. He asked me if I would like USB or battery driven. And because I don't know what I'm going to do yet with power on the shelves here, I told him a battery driven. Oh, look at this. And he also sent some extra hands. All right. So David, this thing looks phenomenal. The gears look amazing. It looks like it's put together very well. I know you were having so much fun with these clocks and I'm going to dive into your email with the instructions, get this thing set with time. And I think it might even have to be calibrated. I can't remember if you said you calibrated it or not, but it is so cool. I can see it's going back and forth and uses a little magnet down here to keep the pendulum swinging. And as you can see, the little red, there you go. The red hand right here moves. Tink, tink, tink. So I'm going to get this thing set for the proper time. It makes a really cool noise, by the way. I think this thing is super cool with the black and the orange look, which is really cool looking.  Everything just pops so nicely, David. Thank you so much. This thing is awesome. I cannot wait to get it tuned and dialed in the way it's actually supposed to be working. I'm going to check out your email right after this video, but I think before that we need a place for it. And David, I think it is tall. So you are going to get right here in the spotlight. I am super pumped about this thing. Thank you so much, David. Thank you for all the time that you've put into this. And I can't wait to enjoy this thing and have an actual clock in the studio, man. Thank you. Thank you. I'm so pumped to have these things on the shelf. And I am so grateful that you guys would make something and send it in. If you would like to have something put on the shelves and seen in a video like this, check out the address in the description below. Make something awesome and send it over. I'll get it on a video like this or on Hot Makes Live on Monday nights or on both like you're about to see with these awesome pieces here. Thank you all in the community for embracing this. I can't wait to see what else comes. Andrew, Paul, and David, thank you guys again. I really appreciate it. You guys are awesome. Thank you for being such great members of the community and I'm proud to show your works of art off right here at the Edgetec Studios. For everybody else, let's see what you got. Send it in. I can't wait to see it. Keep printin'.


Good morning and welcome to another episode of the non-profit show. We're really excited to be working with our friend Meredith. Okay, Meredith, you need to help me pronounce your last name. It's Tarian. Tarian, like riparian. I can remember that. All right, Tarian. Meredith comes to us from Fundraising Academy. She's one of the trainers there. And Merrick also comes to us from Tampa. We were chatting in the main room where sometimes some of the most important things occur. And that has a lot of experience with military non-profits or non-profits that work with the military. And so we're going to get you back on my friend to talk about this, because it's a riveting, riveting topic. Meredith, how new are you with Fundraising Academy? So I've been with them for almost six months now. I started in June of this year, and I have really loved every second of it. It has been, they're just such an incredible team, and the work that they do is, I think, just so transformational. So it's been great. Yeah, it is transformational. And I often say in community, if I hadn't been trained by them, I've been a fundraiser all my life as a community member, not a paid fundraiser. I would have raised millions more dollars from my community. And so it's one of those things that I just, it's so simple, it's so logical, and it is really a good way to do business no matter what you're doing, I think. And so check out Fundraising Academy's cause selling program. It's really fascinating, it really, really is. Well, you know, Meredith, we have a lot of folks to thank before we get started. They include Blumerang, American Nonprofit Academy, your part-time controller, non-profit thought leader, Fundraising Academy at New York University, Staffing Boutique, non-profit nerd, and non-profit tech talk. These are the folks that join us. And what's really interesting, Meredith, I don't even know if you know, but our sponsors don't put any pressure on us in terms of content. And so we have, we book who we want, and we bring people in of all walks of life to talk about all different things. And so we've created a lot of trust with our sponsors. And I think that's one of the things that Fundraising Academy talks about and cause selling is those relationships and trust. And so we want to make sure that we really do thank our sponsors. Again, you can reach us or connect with us in many ways through our streaming broadcast platforms, our podcasts. And now, as I like to call it, our sexy media app. So join us. Okay, you ready, Meredith, for the first question? I am ready. Let's go ahead. Let's get started. Okay, this is a cool one because every once in a while it happens. It happened last week. A committee fully sent some more than one person from Nashville, Tennessee. Can you give us some ideas on how to recruit some younger board members? We keep getting the same age group on the board. And it is not reflecting our client base, nor our community of service. This is a really interesting question. And first of all, I just want to kind of acknowledge and applaud the organization for recognizing this about their board or about their committee, right? So being able to just acknowledge that maybe they need to expand their diversity to be a little more inclusive about who is representing them or who is on their leadership team. That's a really big first step. Now, in terms of how to recruit younger board members, I think there's a couple of things we need to think about here. One, it requires a thoughtful strategy. So you want to consider who your benefactors are of your organization. Are you working with animals? Are you working with children and youth? Maybe health and medicine. Maybe it's higher education. And then from there, I think in terms of recruiting younger folks and bringing folks onto your board that are in that younger demographic, there's a couple things that I would do, right? So consider reaching out to local universities, community organizations, maybe online platforms where young professionals network. That's a great place to start. When you find those folks, when you're in those networking groups, emphasize the benefits of board involvement. So things like skill development, networking, making meaningful impacts, help these folks to understand what is the real value and benefit to joining a board. From there, you can highlight specific roles that align with their skills and their interests. So if you find somebody who may be in a networking group who's a financial professional, maybe they can join your board and serve in your auditing or finance committee. Maybe they can serve in the budgeting committee. If you find folks who are really good in marketing or branding, I mean, help them to understand that they can lend their skills and talents to your organization and really take on a leadership role. Hosting informational events and webinars can also be a good way to interact with folks, to bring folks into the tent, so to speak on your organization. And then, of course, don't underestimate the power of social media. So use social media to showcase your organization's work and to engage with potential candidates for the organization. You know, I love what you said because in the past, we were never vocal about going out and saying, we have an opening, we want board members.  And then our boards would just attract or bring in the same people because, you know, they bring in people from their cohort versus saying, look, we need, you know, we need somebody that speaks different languages or different age groups or demographics that's geographically not living and working in the exact same area. That might be from another part of the state or the region or the community. Let me ask you this question as a follow-up. You seeing use of board member, if you will, applications so that you can feel more confident about opening up the doors and getting like an application, kind of like a, almost if you will, I get to know you on paper, as you would say, you know, like so that, so that perspective board members could have an opportunity to communicate what their skill sets are and what they bring to the table as you mentioned earlier. Yeah, so I think that it's certainly a best practice. I would also suggest to anybody who's looking into board recruitment or, you know, trying to expand their board, you definitely want to have a governance committee that has a formal process in place for identifying and vetting potential board members. And I think that starting with an application like you just described is a great place to start. I mean, really what you're looking for is, you know, interviewing folks, so to speak, for your board. So you want to make sure it's a good fit not only for your organization, but also for them in what their philanthropic interests are and what their skill sets are. Yeah, I think it's really smart. And I think that if you look about how the behavior of a younger demographic in a board cohort can look like, you know, a younger next change are used to filling out forms online applications.  It's going to be a logical extension of how they already are working. And I think it also speaks to the best practices adoption to, you know, nonprofit. If you can say, yeah, well, we have a process for this, you know, I don't know what you think, but I think it elevates the group. Yeah, it absolutely does. Again, it's like a best practice.  And I can just tell you from experience in having worked with, you know, dozens of organizations as a consultant in the capital campaigns, but also as an internal staff member, a board can make or break an organization. So, you know, being really methodical and process oriented about how you recruit your board members, how you train them and how you engage them is really, really, it's a good process to go through and to be really strategic and methodical about. You know, we have a really interesting question that just came in as we've been chatting. And I want to go ahead and break in and ask you to get your comments. Someone writes in, bringing younger members for us is good, but we're really looking for middle age minorities. Two boards, I am on, both need diversity. Isn't it interesting? Yeah. And, you know, I think that this is something, Julia, we've seen in the past, like just the environment and the culture we're in, just in the past couple of years here, there's really been an emphasis now on diversity and inclusion, right? And we're seeing that in the nonprofit industry as well. I mean, and this is a good thing. We have so many nonprofits that are recognizing now that, you know, so many of their boards, you just tend to be filled with older white men, right? So they're saying, you know, we need women and we need minorities and we need a younger demographic. So, so again, that governance committee and being really strategic about how you identify board members, how you recruit them, how you train them, how you vet them. That's going to be your first step probably in, you know, getting after this diversity and inclusion issue. I love it. Well, let's change gears a little bit to our next question. And Meredith, once in a while, questions will come in and I take off their name because I don't want to cause any problems. And this is an incredible public format. And sometimes I'll even take off the community name because it could be easy to figure out who's asking the question. This person wrote in, and they're from Reno, so we kept that in. The question is fascinating. I recently moved to a new profit. I have a job where I have a donor who I previously worked with at my old job. They have asked me why I left and I am conflicted on how to answer. Honestly, the old nonprofit was not well run. I don't want to tell the donor that. Fascinating question. It really is. And I love this one because it's more, you know, personal and nuanced than just, you know, the logistics of fundraising, right? So it's one of those, you know, topics here that requires balancing transparency with professionalism. So here would be my suggestion on this one. I think that you can acknowledge the question without going into too much detail about any negative aspects of your previous position. So in other words, emphasize the positive aspects of your move. So it could be things like that you were seeking new challenges, personal growth. Maybe it's a better alignment with the mission of your current nonprofit to your philanthropic priorities. Frame it as an opportunity that you took advantage of to make a more significant impact and contribute to a cause that you're passionate about. So again, I mean, I think what we want to do is fundraising professionals is help our donors recognize that, you know, this isn't just a job for us. It's not like a sales quota that we're trying to meet. You know, we're, fundraisers, we're really passionate about the organizations that we work with. So we do this because we support the mission. So I think that if you take this approach, you maintain a positive tone while still respecting the confidentiality and professionalism of your past employment. That's probably the best way to do it. Now, if your donor happens to specifically ask about the, you know, practices or things that went on internally at the last organization, I think it's okay to be fair and honest about it, but to not really go into too much detail. And certainly, you don't want to have any perception by your donor that you're throwing that organization under the bus. Exactly. You know, I love what you say. I don't know if I've ever heard anyone articulate it that way. You do have a for this type of work. People that are in this work, whether programming, fund development, seat management, board work, and as volunteer, there is something deeper and there is a calling. And I think that's a great way to frame this because it makes it more personalized. And I agree, name with help. You can really navigate this with grace and an ability to create confidence and strengthen your relationship, but without speaking ill of the previous group. Yeah, I agree. It's a dicey, but a good cross. It really is. Okay, well, let's go on to our next question, which comes from Des Moines, Iowa. And it's from a director of development. Have you heard of making three levels of fundraising goals? The idea is a low, medium, and high amount. I'm not sure if this is a good idea. While we are in our final stages of setting goals, I thought I would ask. Okay, so this is one of my favorite questions so far. Yes, it is because I think that I first of all, I've seen this happen a lot. And here's my take on this. So I think it's important to remember the difference between goals and benchmarks. So setting an overarching goal with benchmarks under it can provide a clear and focused target for your team. So goals and benchmarks are related concepts, but they serve really different purposes in the planning and the measurement process. So benchmarks serve as milestones, and they allow you to track your progress and make adjustments against your goal. So in other words, think about your goal as a broad overarching objective that an individual fundraiser or an organization, you know, aims to achieve. So your goals are typically more qualitative. They're expressed oftentimes in terms of what you want to achieve in the long run. So an example of that would be, you know, our goal may be to raise $5 million to build a building, or maybe your goal is to fully fund your operating expenses through your annual fund. So that would be your goal. Your benchmarks I think is what you're thinking of or what your team might be thinking of in terms of that low, medium, and high range. I would consider those benchmarks. So a benchmark on the other hand is a specific measurable standard or maybe point of reference used to assess your progress. So they provide a way for you to measure your success and they can help in tracking the incremental achievements against your goal. But again, if you have a goal that's so flexible that there's a low, medium, and high point, I think really what that does there is it, again, it's too flexible. And then what happens is there's no risk of you not meeting your goal, right? Because you can just take one of the lower goals if you're not coming close to your higher goal. So what I would do, I would consider a goal as the broader qualitative aspiration while the benchmark is going to be the specific measurable point that tracks progress. You know, I would suggest having one realistic and achievable goal. And then maybe you use those benchmarks for specific segments within. So you might have a smaller goal or benchmark for your annual fund. You might have a specific goal or benchmark for your major gift category. You might have a specific goal or benchmark for your grants or your events category. That would be a way for you to segment your goals here. But while at the same time, you're being really strategic about meeting that overarching broader goal. So when I hear you say what I think about that, pardon me, you're working with the concept of benchmarking. You are marching along the time spectrum with that goal in mind versus at the end of the year, it's a kiss or cry moment, right? You met your goal or you didn't.  This is reality. We hit it or we didn't, right? Versus, you know, kind of keeping the goals in front of top of mind, if you will, and navigating that. I think it's a much healthier way to do it the way you're saying. Yeah.  And you say, you know, unfortunately, we fell short of our goal. And you know what, that happens. It's not necessarily something that you need to be ashamed of or, you know, worried about, like it does happen. Sometimes we fall short on our annual goals. But I think the bigger question is, okay, we understand, but why? What went wrong? If you have those benchmarks and you can say, you know, we anticipated, I don't know, maybe 500,000 out of our special events category, well, because of COVID or because of, you know, inflation or whatever it may be, we fell short on our special events goal or benchmark. And so, you know, we only came in at 250K. That might help you to think of it again. I wouldn't adjust that. I think what I'm trying to say is I would be really cautious about making your overall fundraising goal ambiguous. It should be defined. It should be realistic. It should be based on data and historical values. And then you should have those benchmarks under it where you can track your progress. Right. I think to your point, and the message here is tracking your progress, not waiting until the last moment reporting out.  And you got to, you know, you got to move forward versus understanding kind of where you are. Well, this next question, I feel like this is also not only is this ask and answer, this is almost like the therapy session today. It's very interesting. It's very interesting. Okay. Name withheld from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I recently saw on social media a person on our C-suite posting a looking for a new job. And I'm a bit confused about it. I thought they were happy on our team. And I am not sure if I should approach them about it or just love. I am not their supervisor, but a team and I work closely with them at our nonprofit. But I have no idea what you're going to say. And I am kind of conflicted about this. I don't know what I would do. So let's hear what your thoughts on this Meredith. So first and foremost, I think that in this day and age with social media, we probably have all kind of come across a point like this before, right? A couple of things. I think first and foremost, navigating a situation like this requires sensitivity. So it's natural to be curious. I think it's also essential to approach the matter with care and again to be to be respectful of this person's privacy. So before jumping to conclusions, though, maybe just consider the context of the social media posts. So, you know, some people tend to share content like this on social media, especially LinkedIn, for various reasons unrelated to job satisfaction, right? So or dissatisfaction as it may be. So in other words, you know, networking, exploring opportunities without any intention, without any intention to leave. I mean, that could be the case. Maybe this individual posted this and is looking for, you know, networking opportunities that actually aids them in their current role. I think the other thing to consider would just be if you have a close relationship with this individual or a relatively friendly relationship with this individual, you might consider just having a private and casual conversation about it. So maybe just just acknowledge that you saw the post and say something along the lines of, hey, I saw your post on LinkedIn. You know, what are you thinking about leaving? Are you looking for a new role? And then this person might be willing to kind of share with you, you know, acknowledge like what it is they were doing. It could just be a simple conversation and seven interrogation. But the last thing I would suggest here is just remember that your role as a team member is different from that of a supervisor, right? So approach that situation with empathy, with privacy, with respect. If they choose not to discuss it, it's just respect that decision and continue working collaboratively as usual. Right. You said that. I feel like if we had asked this question a mere five, 10 years ago, it would be totally different because we have a different environment. You know, we had a different environment in the workforce, right? And now we're so challenged with filling positions. So I feel like there's a new level of fear when it comes to talking about employment, you know, especially in the nonprofit sector. It's a very interesting question. It really is. And you know, I love it that you brought up specifically the nonprofit sector. I don't have the data in front of me, but I do know that I've read this before. There tends to be more turnover in the nonprofit sector, particularly in fundraising roles than in any other industry. And so I wouldn't say it's particularly unusual that this individual is looking maybe for a new job. I also think I think there's some data out there today that shows that in this new generation, we don't tend to see people who stay with companies for 20, 35 years like they used to. So this concept of job hopping and moving from one role to another is actually quite common. So again, I don't think it doesn't necessarily indicate that they're dissatisfied in their role or that there's dissatisfied with your organization or your mission. If anything, it could just be a personal choice to move or maybe they're looking for a remote role that allows them to stay home with their children more, who knows what it could be. Yeah, I agree with you. AFP Association of Fundraising Professions reports that the development director here in America, this is development director. So the highest level within that development team is shockingly only about 18 months. And so most HR people will tell you that it takes between six and 12 months for a new employee to be inculcated with what goes on at the business, right? Like where to park, where the bathrooms are, everybody's names, how to dress, how to address one another. Think about that. Yeah, I've read the same thing and it was surprising when I read it, but I think there is a lot of turnover and it's particularly difficult for nonprofits to find and keep quality talent in fundraising in particular. And I mean, that's a whole nother topic. I think there's a lot of reasons for that. We could talk for an hour probably on that alone. But again, I think just being the key here is just remembering that your role as a team member is to support and not necessarily to oversee or supervise. And so just to be supportive of this person and to understand that there could be a number of reasons why they made that content on social media. Amazing. Well, Meredith, you've been just a joy to work with. I love that I got to learn something new about you today. Meredith Tarian is one of the new trainers of the Raising Academy, she comes from Tampa, Florida. Thank you for giving me grace with some of our technology here today. If for those of you who were maybe on earlier, it worked in my community, which doesn't seem like a big deal, but we live in the desert when it rains. Sometimes our broadband gets a little wonky. So for those of you that were with us today, if you felt like we had some lagging or glitches, thank you for sticking it out with us. Meredith, I am going to really push you on coming back and talking to us and our viewers about the nonprofit world in the world of the arm services. Because I think this is a fabulous topic and I can't wait to learn more about this from you. Check out fundraisingacademy.org. Amazing resources. The majority of it is free. It comes through National University. There's tons and tons of information. It's very accessible. It's logical. They do trainings, in-person webinar, and I just got noticed from your team in San Diego that your next Cultivate big workshop convention, whatever you want to call it, is coming forward in May. So you'll be talking about that with us. I'm sure more and more as we get closer to that date. So you will hear that name again, Cultivate. And again, everybody, we've cultivated trust in partnership with our amazing sponsors and they include Bloomerang, American Profit Academy, your part-time controller, non-profit thought leader, Fundraising Academy at National University, Staffing Boutique, non-profit and non-profit talk. These are with us day in and day out as we explore all aspects of the non-profit sector. Meredith, this was really great and I'm super excited to get your perspective in your wisdom on this varied assortment of questions today. Well, thanks so much for having me, Julie. It's always a pleasure to join the show and looking forward to when we get to do it again. Absolutely. Well, we will be seeing Meredith again along with so many of the wonderful minds and talents that the Raising Academy has sprinkled throughout the country. So I feel like, Meredith, when you come on, we also get to get a little bit of a regional perspective as well, which I think is always super cool. So we really appreciate that. Hey, everybody, as we sign off each and every episode of the Non-profit Show, we want to thank you to stay well so you can do well. We'll see you back here again on Monday.