Kristin Hayden is the chief partnership officer for IGNITE, a movement of young women to become the next generation of political leaders. She is also a founding member of Reflect Us—a national coalition of the leading nonpartisan women’s political organizations working together towards gender parity in politics.
On top of this, Kristin is an Ashoka fellow and social entrepreneur having founded OneWorld Now!, a global leadership and study abroad program for underrepresented youths. As the co-founder of Vision Venture, Kristin speaks on diversity, women’s leadership and social entrepreneurship and vision. Kristin has spent her career following her vision of creating opportunities for underrepresented groups.
Find out how Kristin chases her passions on the Find Your Passion Career Podcast!
Throughout her career, Kristin has turned her passion into positive change in the world—even when others didn’t think it was possible.
“I think that’s the start of all vision—to be actually very bold about the change you want to see in the world and what it is you want to do in the world.”
Kristin studied abroad in South Africa during apartheid at the age of 15. This sparked her passion for travel and global experiences. Kristin chose to attend Macalester College since 80% of students studied abroad. She triple majored in International Studies, Russian Language and Soviet Studies and even studied abroad in Moscow, Russia during the final years of the Soviet Union.
With three majors, Kristin felt she had a lot of interests and passions to choose from. But as graduation approached she had a looming question:
“The ongoing question was how are these dots going to connect? How is this all going to make sense into something?”
Her answer? “You have to trust the dots will definitely connect.”
Turning vision into action
After college, Kristin explored opportunities to live all over the world calling cities like Moscow, Paris and London, home. “My philosophy was your 20s are about getting as much experience under your belt as possible. You have more than enough time to settle down and pick a path.”
All of her experiences living and studying abroad inspired her to create OneWorld Now!, an organization that aligned with her experiences and her vision. “Creating an organization that was kinda the culmination of all these dots of my life experience and doing the mission aligned work that I wanted to do to create the change that I wanted to see in the world.”
She wanted to contribute to allowing others, especially underserved students, access to international experiences likes the ones that had ignited her passions.
“I think all Americans need more of a global perspective in our education system but I also see the disparities it was particularly the privileged folks who even gotta have those experiences and I wanted to level the playing field.”
After running OneWorld Now! for a decade, Kristin moved to The San Francisco Bay Area where she learned about IGNITE and the mission to inspire more young women to step into political power.
Now in her work for IGNITE, Reflect Us and Vision Venture she inspires female leadership and speaks on uncovering your vision.
Consider your bottom line
On the podcast, Kristin offers her advice for turning vision and passion into action. The first step? Pulling out a pen and getting your ideas on paper!
“When you keep the vision in your head, which it is for most people, remember that it stays in your head. One of the ways to start manifesting what it is you want, one of the very first steps, is to actually write it down. It makes it concrete, you can see it, touch it.”
But how can you determine your vision? Kristin shares that it is about taking the time to consider your ‘bottom line.’
“Pick three things that are the bottom lines for you. And think about the essence of what you want. The key is to let go of how exactly it looks. Thats where humans get tripped up.”
Kristin further advises listeners to be kind to yourself and nourish your vision with positive thoughts.
“I’m constantly coaching myself every single morning about my outlook on the world because I know it really impacts what is happening in my reality.”
Take a moment to consider your bottom line. What is your vision for how you want to change the world? Listen in to find out how Kristin connected her dots and turned her vision into action!
Download our podcast interview with Kristin here on iTunes!
Once you’re inspired by Kristin’s story we would love to read your review. Thanks so much!
FYPC Podcast Ep 18: Claire Kreger-Boaz, NAMM Foundation
Thank you, Amanda, for the opportunity to talk about my career journey and the power of Vision along the way! Love that you are encouraging others to always lean into their passion & purpose for guidance.