I left off my first recap talking about my little adventure around the beautiful city of Chicago. After I wandered for a few hours I headed back to the hotel to get ready for the real reason why I was in Chicago: The KIND University Ambassador (KUA) Summit.
I work for KIND Healthy Snacks as a campus ambassador at my school. (Not familiar with KIND? Click here!) During the school year I represent KIND by living the brand on campus. What does that mean? In addition to my marketing role of building partnerships with student organizations and sampling product to students, I try to spread kindness around campus. KIND is more than a healthy (and delicious) snack company, our mission is to make the world a little kinder…one snack and kind act at a time. (Side note: Every month KIND donates $10,000 to one KIND Cause. Submit your cause and vote online!)
I am one of 70 KIND University Ambassador’s (KUA’s) from all across the country (and Canada!). Last year was the first year of the program and we had about 40 schools, so to almost double in one year is amazing! The Summit took place in Chicago for its central location and I liked that I got the chance to explore a new-to-me city, rather than New York (which will always be my favorite). We stayed at the MileNorth hotel which was right off Michigan Avenue and I shared a room with the KUA from The University of California at Berkley. She was so sweet and easy to get along with! I actually felt so comfortable with everyone at the Summit and wished we didn’t all go to different schools.
The only event on Tuesday was a welcome reception on the rooftop of the hotel. We played some icebreaker games and I really enjoyed talking to students from (literally) all corners of the country. I had similar friends with a some students too. Small world.
ADPi KUA’s at the welcome reception.
After the reception my roommate, the KUA from Boston University and I walked to Whole Foods for dinner. That would be my second trip to that Whole Foods in 6 hours. Go me..?!
The next morning started with a breakfast at 7 a.m. followed by our morning sessions. The meeting room was filled with KIND bars galore. #Kindawesome is really the best way to describe it.
There were 5 bins like this around the room. My tummy was happy.
Our morning sessions featured presentations from different departments of the company (Marketing, Sales and HR) and, before we broke for lunch, we had the pleasure of listening to the CEO and Founder Daniel Lubetzky speak. Daniel may have been one of the most inspiring individuals I’ve ever met. His dreams and vision for the KIND and how we can change the world makes me so excited and proud to work for this company.
After a quick lunch we broke into smaller groups for our afternoon sessions and then we sampled product on the streets of Chicago. We probably looked very intimidating wearing matching shirts and (unintentionally) blocking the sidewalks. Just spreading kindness whenever and wherever we can!
Around 4 p.m. we hopped on shuttles to the airport, and that was when the fun ended (literally)…after spending much of last weekend in a car, I’m kind of sick of traveling. I was 2.5 hours early for my flight (there was only one bus for the group) so I killed time by eating and reading. I was starving and needed some nourishing food to top my plain salad so I went up to the counter at a Mexican fast food restaurant and bought an avocado. Just a full avocado. I probably looked like a freak cutting the avocado in the middle of the airport, but hey, it was the best $2 I spent that day!
Everything was smooth sailing flight-wise until we boarded the plane and then found out we would be delayed for 1.5 hours. We couldn’t leave the plane AND the A/C wasn’t working. I finally landed back home at midnight and stayed up until 1 a.m. talking to my mom.
I’m truly so grateful to be working for KIND and am so thankful for my rewarding experience in Chicago.
More posts on KIND (and give-a-ways) in the future :)
Any Kindaholics out there? What’s your favorite flavor? Mine is Almond & Coconut.
What a cool trip! I have a good friend in Baltimore that’s one of the marketing leads for Kind and I couldn’t figure out why he was in Chicago… Guess that’s my answer! It sounds like a fun group of people and it’s always fun to explore a new city- Chicago is beautiful!
Ah that’s so funny that you knew someone on my trip. I’m sure I met him! The people who work for Kind are all so energetic, outgoing and easy to get along with. Great group, for sure.
I can’t believe you’re a KIND ambassador and only in college! That is so great! :) I know the company and it’s very popular here in Canada. Say, was your plane ride paid for as well? I’ve always wanted to become an ambassador for something; it was great looking into your adventure. Looks like you had a great time :)
KIND has a campus ambassador program at about 70 colleges and universities. It’s been an amazing experience! There are two schools in Canada, I believe.