Marvellous Marbles 🌟

Helloo wonderful people ♡

Today I'd like to share with you a lovely interview...presented to you by:

Interviewer: @Aishaa97 🌸

Interviewee: @FrenchMarbles 🪻

Aisha 🌸-

Would you like to share with us how your 7cups journey started and how it evolved?

French🪻-

Back in 2014, I was at a stage where I needed support, but I felt highly judged by friends and family, so I kept things to myself. I felt my mental health wasn't all that stable, but there wasn't anywhere I could go and vent it out, so I decided to do a google search on "talk to someone", and 7CupsOfTea came up. I was intrigued for sure because I first thought that name was a bit silly and an excessive amount of teas (oh, how things change!) I decided to log in as a member, and I remember the place well, back then there weren't any group things happening; I would click the option to talk to someone, but because there were a low number of listeners, I was automatically transported into a hangouts room with other members who were also waiting to speak to a listener. I'll cut to the chase, but my first interaction wasn't good. However, I persisted with different listeners and finally found someone I connected with. This inspired me to make my listener account, but I remember how scary it was to do that first chat. If my interaction as a member was terrible, how do I not repeat that experience for the member who has me as their listener? This meant from an early stage of my time at 7Cups, I was always focused on Quality, and I've been a quality mentor since I can remember. After taking a few years on and off break due to life, im back and better than before!

Aisha 🌸-

What does a typical day on 7 cups look like for you?

French 🪻-

A typical day on 7Cups? I like to check my messages as I have a mixture of members, mentees, and leaders who I interact with daily and because of time zones, it means that my day can sometimes be someone else's night, so it's nice that I have a combination of people throughout the world. I'll then head over to the Listener Support Room and introduce myself there to ensure listeners know there is support available should they need me. I'm in a project called "Self-Discovery for 100 Days", - which is a way to introduce the idea that we need to reflect and discover positive things about ourselves which you can find right here. SelfDiscoveryPromptsDayOne_297927 As I have multiple roles, I would attend each role to do my duties, but I love what I do here and this feels like a comfortable place.

Aisha 🌸-

Which of your many roles is your favourite and why?

French 🪻-

One of the significant roles I enjoy is the anonymous evaluations team, which is run by @EvelyneRose. I love that team because we evaluate all levels of listeners, from the novices to ambassadors and more; we are a team who works to boost the quality of our listeners by assessing them and finding where they might need extra support. It's also a great way to explore the member experience, as it's important to remember that 7Cups was designed for the members to utilise. Through my time on 7Cups, I have been involved with numerous projects and one common thread they all share is that good leadership is essential. I thank @EvelyneRose for the way she's handled situations and has provided me with the knowledge. We're fortunate to have someone who understands the struggles of being a listener. I have recently learnt that if a role gives me stress or any negative feelings, it is not the right one for me and that it is better to step down and focus on the roles that I do enjoy. This follows the self-care aspect that I do nowadays: I put myself first and listen to what I want because I come before anything else.

Aisha 🌸-

Who is your role model and why? (here or outside cups or both)

French 🪻-

@InternalAcceptance is someone I will forever appreciate because they were why I continued to stay. I felt incredibly burnt out with the roles I was doing and she stood by my side and worked through all of my roles. We've worked out a balance now where I will ensure I prioritize myself and produce quality work for the community. I removed many roles I didn't enjoy, and now I thrive in this community

Aisha 🌸-

How does life at 7 cups impact your real life?

French🪻-

Active listening skills are something that you're not born with; it's a skill that you learn and needs to keep practising to be a good listener in general. As I use sign language outside of here, it's a language through gestures of the hands, body language and facial expressions. It's hard for someone like me to know how to express that I am listening to someone via a text response other than something like 'mhm', which isn't empathetic. Through my years of listening to other people on here, I'm now mindful of how I communicate with people in real life and understand how to interact with people better.

Aisha 🌸-

What have you learnt in your life so far, from which the world can benefit?

French 🪻-

Hmm, I'd say to check on your loved ones, even if they are fine, it's always appreciated to know someone is thinking of them.

Aisha 🌸-

What all will you do in 7 cups in 2024?

French 🪻-

On the 14th of May 2024 I will be celebrating my decade at 7Cups, I'm not quite sure what I will do that specific day but I think it should be special.

Thank you so much to Interviewer: @Aishaa97 . You asked some amazing questions and we appreciate you for spending your time interviewing French. 🌸

Thank you so much to our Interviewee: @FrenchMarbles . Your answers were amazing, and we thank you for all you do here on 7cups. 🪻

This interview is part of the Living with Leaders interview series. If you would like to give or take an interview, you can do so here: https://tinyurl.com/LivingwithLeaders