Nielsen Global Impact Day
Each year for one day all of Nielsen's 35,000+ associates around the world dedicate themselves to a day of community service. This is called Nielsen Global Impact Day. In addition to this, I am lucky that Nielsen allows for 24 hours of community service time throughout the year. This is a new benefit and I am eager to take advantage of it when I get back to the U.S. I know I sound like I am in a Nielsen advertisement, but seriously I love where I work!
On Nielsen Global Impact Day last year I joined my Chicago HR colleagues at a senior center in Chinatown where we helped elderly Chinese to study for their citizen tests. The day was full of laughs, as the people we were helping were hesitant to let me quiz them because I only spoke English. In the end I won their trust by using a colleague to translate for me. It was a blast and I had such an incredible time that the bar for this year's NGID was very high.
Last week I volunteered at St. Catherine's Home (http://www.stcatherineshome.org/) in Mumbai. There were nearly 100 Nielsen associates at the site and we did many different activities. We taught the school children lessons in the classroom, planted flowers and trees, and finally danced Bollywood Zumba with all of the children.
Upon entering St. Catherine's the Nielsen associates were greeted by a small group of girls who put on a dance performance to some traditional Indian music. They were energetic and excited to share their talents with us. It was a wonderful way to start off the day keeping in mind that all of our work would be positively impacting those girls and many more.
During the first portion of the day during which I was in a classroom. I was amazed by the tenacity of the kids. It was extremely hot in the room, there was no fan, and they were about to take an exam. Amidst all of that and the fact that they are from struggling backgrounds, each and every child was eager to introduce themselves and tell us about their hobbies. My favorite moment was when this little boy who came up to maybe my hip told the room that his hobby was homework. I joked that he should come work at Nielsen!
Then, we went outside and planted some small trees and plants on the grounds. The school has a garden, but not very much green space. It was neat to see the grounds come to life with fresh planters and some weed pulling. I hope that next year when Nielsen returns to St. Catherine's that the gardens are in full bloom.
Finally, the highlight of my NGID was leading hundreds of children in Zumba. We invited the Zumba instructor who teaches us Zumba weekly in the office. She stood on a stage and taught the children some of the basics of Zumba, but they really came alive when we switched from Zumba to Bollywood songs. The instructor thought quickly and merged Zumba moves with the Bollywood songs and the kids were loving it. I danced alongside this group of girls who got the biggest kick out of me attempting to dance to the Bollywood songs. My willingness to embarrass myself in front of literally hundreds of students was well worth it because it brought them such laughter. We even snapped some selfies!
Here are some of the most popular Bollywood songs right now:
Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpsVpnvFfZQ
Sooraj Dooba Hain ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJZcbidTutE
Banno https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PqKrsS4Fuw (I've seen this movie!!!)
After NGID was over, Rashmi and I headed to a local café to have a much-needed lunch and to cool off after the intense Zumba session. It was a wonderful day, and as I arrived home in my Nielsen t-shirt I was swelling with pride to work for such an incredible company.
Cheers,
B
The girls' welcome dance
My plant
All of the kids learning Zumba
Zumba "selfie"