Michelle Reynolds

I didn't know exactly what career I wanted, but I was actually quite purposeful about choosing the course. I was interested in business and entrepreneurship, and the course I selected felt like it would give me the broadest possible grounding, understanding how businesses work, how you build something, how you communicate it, how you bring people with you. I liked that breadth and the possibilities it offered. 

I had a huge interest in charities and social impact even then. I'd volunteered from quite a young age and knew that it really mattered to me to be involved in some way – to feel I could really be a part of something truly making a difference in peoples lives – but I don’t think I understood at that stage that the nonprofit sector could be a career.  I think that’s still a challenge for our sector, but thankfully I do see change. There is more awareness now of the nonprofit sector as a professional career choice, and more education and training available to people who want to work in it. 

I think that's hugely important because if we want to create real social impact, we need really talented people choosing our sector. We need great leaders, fundraisers, marketeers, finance people, service professionals. all of it. 

So though I didn't know I'd end up where I am now, when I look backwards, the things that drew me to that course -people, business, entrepreneurship, creating something and making an impact - have followed me all the way through my career. 

The people, and the whole experience, really. 

When I chose TU Dublin – or DIT as it was then – I actually chose somewhere none of my close school friends were going. I adored my friends, but I remember really wanting to do something different. I wanted to meet new people, have my own experience and probably push myself outside what was familiar. And I was so lucky with the people I met. 

There was obviously so much fun and loads of new experiences.  But I also really remember the group projects and presentations, having to lean into the uncomfortable and figure things out between us.  I don't think at the time I gave any great thought to what I was learning from that, but looking back, so much of college was learning from other people and learning how to work with them. 

I couldn’t not mention Tom Cooney here too – one of my professors in 4th year.  I loved his entrepreneurship module.  He had a really rare way of seeing people's strengths and building them up.  He made you feel there were possibilities and had a way of really drawing out people’s curiosity and interests and applying them across his module and business more generally. 

It’s something I’ve thought about over the years, particularly as I've moved into leadership and coaching.  Sometimes somebody believing in you, or seeing something in you that you haven't quite seen in yourself yet, can make such a difference. 

I actually got to go back and speak to Tom's class last year, more than 20 years after I had been sitting there myself, which was really special. 

The business grounding was absolutely important.  But when I think about what really shaped me, it's probably all the less tangible stuff. 

It was choosing to step outside a very comfortable circle and start again somewhere new. Meeting people who had completely different backgrounds and experiences. Learning how to work with people, how to contribute to a team, how to ask for help and how to support somebody else when they needed it.  It was also being exposed to lecturers like Tom who encouraged us to think bigger and see possibility rather than just teaching what was on a syllabus.  I think college gave me independence and curiosity.  It helped me discover more about what I was good at and probably also what I wasn't! 

I think it reinforced for me that growth very often happens when you're willing to move outside what's familiar and comfortable.  As apprehensive as I was, I made a deliberate choice to go somewhere I knew nobody because I wanted to meet new people and have a different experience. Looking back now, I'm really glad that younger version of me was brave enough to do that. 

I think it probably was always there, I just wouldn't have recognised it or called it that when I was younger. 

I've always really loved people. I love getting to know people, hearing their stories, understanding what's important to them. Relationships and connection have always mattered so much to me, in every part of my life really.  I've probably always had quite a strong need to do something too.  If I care about something, or I see something that doesn't feel right or could be better, I'm no great at just accepting it.  My instinct tends to be to find a way to help. 

I volunteered from quite a young age, so I suppose that was there long before I ever thought about working in the nonprofit sector.  As my career went on, I just became clearer that I needed to care about the work I was doing.  I wanted to achieve things and stretch myself, absolutely, but the achievement itself was never really the point.  It was what that achievement could mean for somebody else. 

I want to make things better for people. That might mean helping to build a service that wasn't there before, raising the money that allows something to happen, creating an environment where somebody can thrive, or sometimes it may be just being able to make one person's experience a little easier or better than it otherwise might have been. 

Impact doesn’t have to have a perception of being enormous to matter.  If something we've done has genuinely made a difference to one person, that's meaningful.  I think that's probably why I've stayed in this sector.  I get to put my energy into things I really care about, alongside people I really care about, and hopefully make things a little better for others along the way. I feel incredibly lucky to feel that way about my work. 

People and relationships – which comes down to authenticity and vulnerability.  I've spent a huge part of my career fundraising, and I think we sometimes make it sound much more complicated than it really is.  At its best, fundraising is about connecting people who care with something they care about. You're helping somebody who wants to make a difference understand where they can genuinely make one. 

I want to understand why they care.  What's important to them.  What are they hoping to change.  And then I think we have a responsibility to bring them close to the impact and let them really see what they've made possible.  I’ve been so lucky that some of the relationships I've built have lasted for many years and across different organisations. There are people I first met through my work who I would now consider friends.  That's an enormous privilege. 

And often those people bring far more than monetary giving.  They bring ideas, experience, introductions, challenge, advocacy, energy and belief in what you're trying to achieve.   

People often say that people give to people.  I think that's true, but I don’t think that’s all of it.  People want to be part of something meaningful.  The most magic thing about working in this sector is that you get to see the very best of people every single day.

That people are everything. I really, really believe that.  And probably that there is no single way to bring out the best in somebody because we're all different. 

Some people need encouragement. Some need to be challenged. Some need space. Sometimes somebody just needs another person to really listen to them. And actually, the same person might need all of those things at different times. 

Psychotherapy has taught me to be curious about what's happening underneath what we see and not to assume I know somebody's story.  Coaching has taught me not to rush in with my answer.  There's enormous power in helping somebody find their own. 

Leadership has probably taught me that trust, empathy and authenticity are everything.  People do their best work when they feel seen, valued and trusted; when they feel safe enough to have an idea, ask a question, disagree with you or admit that they've got something wrong.   

But I also don't think being a caring leader means always making people comfortable. Sometimes leadership means having a difficult conversation, challenging somebody, holding a boundary.  You can do all of those things with empathy and humanity.  There is always room for kindness and compassion. 

I’ve so much still to learn, and I always will! I get things wrong. I change my mind. Other people teach me things all the time.  Recognising that leadership isn't about having all the answers or being the most important person in the room.  Often it's about creating the conditions for everybody else in the room to be at their best.  It’s not only ok, but important, to show vulnerability and be human.   

The generosity of people towards one another.  And peoples courage in vulnerability and capacity for compassion. 

I understood peer support before joining Anam Cara.  But witnessing it up close is completely different.  I've listened to parents describe walking into a room carrying something so devastating it’s almost unimaginable, and be met by another parent whose child has also died.  There is an understanding there that doesn't always need words. Nobody has to explain why a particular date matters, or why something seemingly tiny can suddenly feel enormous.  There's something incredibly powerful about simply being with somebody who gets it. 

I feel the responsibility of the role very deeply.  People are trusting Anam Cara with an incredibly vulnerable part of their lives.  That's an enormous privilege.  We can't take grief away.  But we can make sure somebody doesn't have to navigate it entirely alone.  I've seen again and again what can happen when somebody feels genuinely understood by another human being.  That really stays with me. 

I have three children aged 8, 9 and 10, so they keep me fairly busy!  Life is pretty full.  My husband Philip and I both work, the kids all have their various things going on, and sometimes it feels like half of family life is just logistics and figuring out who needs to be where and when. 

So actually, a really good weekend for me is fairly simple.  Time together where nobody is rushing somewhere.  Getting out and doing something as a family, or with friends, family dinner with some games afterwards, having a coffee or a walk with a friend for a long overdue catch up.  

I love anything physical - I train every weekday morning and I love it, it’s for my mind as much as my body, but I want to be able to stay fit and healthy enough to keep up with my kids.  I love travelling when we can.  I've just finished my second Camino with a group from Anam Cara, and I love everything about that combination of walking, challenge, people, conversation and connection.   

The older and busier I've got, the more I've realised that the things that make me happiest are actually really ordinary things. My people, proper conversations, laughing a lot, getting outside, I love cooking and baking too when I can, a good book and occasionally doing absolutely nothing.

Harry Potter character you'dmost like to have dinner with? Dumbledore.  

One thing guaranteed to make you laugh? My children.  

Sweet or savoury? Savoury, but I love a sweet treat too! 

Early bird or night owl? Early bird. 

A cause you'd like to see solved in your lifetime? 

I find this one really hard because there are just too many, and choosing one somehow feels like saying that one person's suffering matters more than somebody else's. 

If I could change anything, I think I'd probably wish for more kindness, empathy and compassion in how we treat each other.  So many of the things I care about come back to that - how we treat people when they're struggling or vulnerable, how we use whatever power or influence we have, whether we really try to understand somebody else's experience, and whether we're willing to do something when we see that someone isn't getting what they need. 

I think if we all started a little more often with the person in front of us – what might life feel like for them, what do they need, and is there anything I can do to make it a little better? – so much pain and suffering would be lessened.