#FacesOfToM – Maike & Rita

9 January 2021

We have a resolution for 2021: more transparency. From now on, you will begin to know our off-site team members through this blog. Who is behind the scenes? How do decisions for the teams come about? And how did everyone get involved with Taste of Malawi e.V.?

Welcome Maike and Rita!

Where should we start? Of course, we should introduce our two newbies: Maike and Rita! As you may know, we organize ourselves in different teams. Maike is new to the website team, and Rita will work with the social media team. Both have been a part of ToM since November 2020 and have already been working hard on their tasks remotely.

Maike is helping to move the Website to WordPress (more on that soon, surprise, surprise) and Rita is taking care of the newsletter from now on.

How did they discover Taste of Malawi?

Online of course! During this digital year of 2020, Maike found us through a volunteer platform called Vostel.de. Rita found and connected with us through a post on our LinkedIn.

Why did they choose Taste of Malawi?

Both Maike and Rita said that female empowerment and independence were their main inspirations for chosing to be a part of ToM. Sustainability is also a topic that popped up during initial conversations. Since then, we have found out that both Maike and Rita are passionate about our values and already engage in sustainable lifestyles.

Sustainability plays a particularly important role in Maike’s life. Since the beginning of 2020, she has been more intensively engaged in yoga, spirituality, and personal development. Rita is more likely to deal with the topic of consumer behavior. This was the main reason for her to organize a clothing exchange for several years.

Maike likes to spend her free time outdoors in nature and can often be found there with her camera. By the way, photography has long been her great passion. Specifically, completely natural photography: without artificial light or a photo studio. Rita is more likely to be found reading or doing sports in her spare time. Since spring 2020, she’s been doing a lot of clearing out. She regularly and actively organizes social events, but now the events she organizes are all online of course.

What have Maike and Rita been talking about?

Maike appreciates smaller projects where everyone can expand their skills and also learn from each other. Wildly mixed groups? Yes please!

Both Maike and Rita have been discussing and exploring shipping logistics behind ToM. Write us if you are interested in learning more about it too. The discussions eventually flourished into multiple ideas that are in the process of being implemented. Perhaps the way Maike and Rita brainstormed and discussed, can be reformatted into a process for how we incubate ideas for new ToM projects!

Have you just come across Taste of Malawi and are interested in joining us? Or have you been following and reading us for a while now, but couldn’t decide about contacting us? Then stay tuned! A little birdie told us that ToM may be looking for more support in the near future.

One thing is for sure, both Rita and Maike feel very comfortable and welcomed by the entire team. Here’s to an eventful 2021 and to overcoming any challenges that we may face together!

Another interview will be posted on this blog soon. Are you already curious? We are and if you have any questions for the OffSite team, we are always in favor of including them in the interviews. Just hit us up on our social media.

Cheers!