Meet our Engagement Administrator

We’re so excited for you to meet Tom, our new Engagement Administrator. Tom will be the first point of contact for our community of tiny change makers, funded projects, and young Wavemakers.

Hi Tom, can you tell us about your role as Engagement Administrator?

At its heart the role is about engaging with the community that exists around Tiny Changes, whether that’s our Wavemakers or people reaching out who want to donate or fundraise for us. We also want to grow that community, so that’ll be another aim; to bring in new volunteers and get them on board for some of the many events we have lined up. Then there’s the more admin side of things, so assisting the Tiny Changes team behind-the-scenes, and helping them to get the most out of their time and efforts, whether that’s to do with grant-making, fundraising, or looking after our online march store. So a whole variety of things.

What are you looking forward to in your new role?

I think just helping to grow that Tiny Changes community which is such a fundamental part of what we do – and I’m looking forward to being a part of that community as well as helping to set it up! There are so many inspirational people connected to Tiny Changes and helping to impact the lives of young people – and I can’t wait to get to know as many of them as possible. There have already been so many achievements but actually we’re still a really new charity, which means there are so many more things we can achieve, and that’s so exciting.

You’re the man behind Gold Flake Paint, do you have any top tips for community engagement?

One of my favourite things about the blog/magazine was the community that grew along with it, but it’s also funny because that was never really a deliberate thing. Even after a decade of doing it I was always surprised that anyone cared about what we were doing and wanted to invest their time or money into it. I think I always tried to just be myself; not a faceless website or generic social media account but a real person who wanted to make a little difference to somebody’s day by sharing some nice words about a nice song. I think people really appreciate that kind of humanity in this increasingly digital world!

Aside from music and helping young minds feel better, what else are you passionate about?

Reading, writing, going to the cinema, walking up and down and across hills, jumping into water, brewing fresh coffee, making pizzas and pasta from scratch, walking in the fresh air, sitting in the fresh air, sitting in quiet corners of pubs (with or without pals), sitting outside at night, eating fancy dinners (occasionally), feeling lost in foreign places, hosting friends in our house – and I’d like to do all of these things more often.

What song makes you feel good?

I gave this way more thought that it probably needed but the correct answer is Run Away With Me by CRJ.

How do you take care of your mental health? 

Eating pizza? One of my intentions moving forwards is to be much better about recognising when I’m struggling and doing something with that, whether that’s switching off a computer screen, walking up a hill, being more open about how I’m feeling with those around me, or asking for help. I’ve got very used to just ploughing on regardless when I’m not feeling good, and just waiting for the clouds to clear, but that isn’t very helpful in the long run. I never feel better than when I’m out in nature somewhere, either with a good podcast or singing songs into the breeze so I’m putting it on record that I will do that much more often from this day forward…

Finally, we’re just over halfway through 2022, is there anything our community should be keeping an eye out for this year?

There’s a couple of super exciting things in the pipeline which I’m sure we can share news of soon, but it’s definitely building towards a very busy second half of 2022. So definitely keep eyes and ears peeled. We’re partnering with the Scottish Album of the Year Awards this year, and that’s always a really lovely event (with some great Scottish music thrown in along the way). We’re currently working on a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Scotland, which will guide the work that the Government does to improve mental health and wellbeing, so that’s very exciting. I think I’m just most excited about the Tiny Changes team growing, and what that means for our Wavemakers and the work we can do. There’s so much to look forward to.