Ammara Chaudhry

I would say my hard work. Everything I've done, I've always gave 100%. Hard work pays off, it just does. I think the best thing I can say is that you have to work hard. Even if it's something small, you should always do your best to make it right and not cut any corners, because you want your work to be a reflection of who you are. If you're doing your work improperly and you're cutting corners, I feel like it reflects the type of person you are and your work ethic. So always work hard, and people will notice, and you will move up, even if you think that working hard isn't taking you anywhere and nobody's noticing. One day it'll happen, and just never give up, because I didn't always have the position I have today. It took many years and a lot of hard work. Another lesser person might have been discouraged and moved on, but I worked hard to get where I am today, and I never gave up.

I think it was my father who instilled this work ethic in me. The best thing I can say is that you have to work hard. Even if it's something small, you should always try your hardest to do it right and not cut any corners, because you want your work to be a reflection of who you are. If you're doing your work improperly and you're cutting corners, I feel like it reflects the type of person you are and your work ethic. So always work hard, and people will notice, and you will move up, even if you think that working hard isn't taking you anywhere and nobody's noticing. One day it'll happen, and just never give up, because I didn't always have the position I have today. It took many years and a lot of hard work. Another lesser person might have been discouraged and moved on, but I worked hard to get where I am today. Never give up, basically.

I would say that the world is moving towards the digital space, and everything is changing so rapidly, and AI is so apparent everywhere. But being in the print industry, we're an old-fashioned space, and sometimes taking on some of the old-fashioned ways, even just writing something out without using AI, printing something and handing out a flyer, sometimes don't forget about the old-fashioned notions that can help you, because sometimes those are gonna stand out more than the more modern techniques. Basically, don't forget to be human.

I think the biggest challenges, but also the opportunity, is the digital space. Since I work in direct mail and printing, a few years back people were asking how I was gonna keep working in that field because everything is so digitized now, nobody's gonna read the mail or look at papers, everything is just gonna be on the computer. That could be the challenge, because things are so digital now, and there's so many emails, text messages, and so much social media that print is getting less and less. But I think also in the last maybe 2 years, there has been a trend showing that direct mail marketing is coming back on top. It may be more costly for some smaller nonprofits or campaigns, but the larger campaigns and larger nonprofits are showing that people are responding more to direct mail than emails and text messages, because we are so bombarded by emails and text messages and social media ads that they become ignored. So when you get something in the mail, it's something you have to physically hold and look at and see, so it is raising, and the data is showing that people are responding to it. Despite all the digital, a lot of nonprofits and agencies will actually discourage printing. I see it more with the younger generation of marketing professionals who don't see the value of print, while the older generation still does. They'll discourage some nonprofits from printing, and I think they're doing them a huge injustice, because it's still very effective.

Working with so many fundraising professionals, and I consider myself a fundraising professional as well, I think you just have to work hard to be a good person. I think in this world where there's so many people who are jaded, I think it's just very simple. We shouldn't overcomplicate it. If you, at the end of the day, feel like, hey, I did the right thing, and I was a good person, and I was nice to people, and I did the best I can to help others, then you really can't be upset about anything that's happening, because you're doing the best you can to be a good person.