Spotlighting a Lovely Smile Spreader - @VictoriaLove7

Hey everyone. I am so excited and happy to invite you all to come join me as I spotlight a lovely soul! I had the honor to interview @VictoriaLove7 and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her. I hope you all do too!

For those of you who do not know, Victoria is on the peer appreciation team and is a smile spreader-- an amazing, beautiful, and creative one at that! Victoria helps by creating posts containing appreciation notes that people send in for their peers and makes beautiful graphics to go along with it. <3

Now it is time for the good part-- the interview. ;)

Desiree: Hello Victoria. Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. If there is anyone who deserves to be spotlighted, it is you. :)

I have been watching your posts and graphics since you first joined as a smile spreader and I have to say, I have seen your growth and I applaud you for that. It is always lovely to see your beautiful posts and graphics! With that said, I would like to ask–

Q1: What is the inspiration behind wanting to be a smile spreader?

Victoria: I submitted a number of appreciations and thought I should contribute to make designs. As for graphics, I see other smile spreaders also made awesome designs!

Desiree: I see you have been a member on 7cups since 2020.

Q2: Care to share with us what your typical day on 7cups looks like?

Victoria: Sometimes I just hang out in group chat rooms to listen and ask how people are doing. But I do not have a specific set time for being on 7cups because I have offline/irl works. Now I kinda enjoy being in forum more than group chat because it is more flexible. When I can, I also try to check the tasks everyday or every other day at random times.

Desiree: I know you shared with us about what inspired you to join the Peer Appreciation Team earlier but now we would like to know more…:)

Q3: How has your journey been going as a smile spreader? Do not hold back either. We are interested in what being a smile spreader has done for you in your personal life? Maybe by sharing your journey it will inspire others to want to join such an amazing team. <3 We can only hope, right?

Victoria: For a technical part, I learned using design tools which is great. I learned about the tool from you because I saw you made cool designs! For a more personal aspect, I feel that being a smile spreader as the name suggested, it is about making others smile. 😄 So, it is like working behind the scene. It is nice when we get acknowledged but it should not discourage us when we do not get it. (But it is human to feel discouraged too!) I think I learn to just feel satisfied with the work I did. I guess it is the same as in real life, sometimes we do good things for others but not getting the acknowledgement we expect to get. But don't let it stop you from doing good for others.

Q4: What is your absolute favorite part of being a smile spreader? Is it the creating of lovely graphics where you get to express yourself? Is it the actual postings of delivering the most sweetest appreciation notes from peer to peer? Is it the rewarding feeling you feel knowing you are making a difference in the lives of others?

Let us in and share with us what you enjoy the most?

Victoria: A little bit of all of those things, I think. I am not sure if I make a difference in the lives of others though 😁 maybe it just made their day.

Desiree: As I mentioned earlier, I have seen how you have grown in your creativeness.

Q5: From the first time you made your first graphic and post up until now, what do you notice has changed in and about you? What do you consider your strengths to be?

Victoria: I try to put more efforts to make it as good as I can and that is why it took a lot of time to make one, can be days, because I keep editing things. As for my strength (or more like my weakness? lol), I always pay attention to details, the smallest, trivial things matter to me.

Q6: If you could inspire and motivate someone, what would you say to them if they were thinking about joining as a smile spreader? Any words of wisdom you would like to share to ease any anxieties they may be feeling?

Victoria: Enjoy making the graphics and know that you are doing something good for others and that you are a wonderful person for doing that. Maybe tell yourself that you are doing something good, try not to worry about whether you are being acknowledged or not, and let it be.

Desiree: I wanted to give you a great big hug and thank you for taking time out of your schedule for being here with me. This is my first time ever interviewing someone and I just thought you were the perfect candidate. You do so much on 7cups to spread joy, kindness, and love to others and I want you to know it does not go unnoticed. I see you. We see you. You are an amazing, lovely, and talented smile spreader and thank you for everything you do! Spotlight is on you, my friend! <3 You deserve to be recognized!

If you have read it this far, thank you! I hope you all will join in sharing love to the amazing @VictoriaLove7 for all she does to spread kindness and make people smile. She may not realize the true importance of her role but I do and I can say for 100% certainty that she is changing the lives of others. We never know what someone is going through and for many, a smile, kind words, a pretty graphic... that is enough to get them through the day. <3

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.