Great brands don't just serve customers—they serve communities. As the marketing officer for YulistaCARES, Yulista's employee-led CARES initiative, I've channeled my creative and strategic expertise into meaningful community impact from 2021-2024. From spearheading the toothpaste and deodorant drive that supported North Alabama's foster children to launching our Adopt-a-School initiative with Rolling Hills Elementary—providing duty-free lunches, snack carts, and classroom reading sessions throughout the 2024-2025 school year—I've learned that the most rewarding campaigns are those that genuinely transform lives in our own backyard.
YulistaCARES
Behind every successful community initiative is careful planning, authentic engagement, and moments of genuine connection that remind us why this work matters. The images below capture the energy, impact, and heart of the events I've planned, supported, and attended—from intimate school visits to large-scale community drives, each representing our commitment to making a tangible difference in the lives of our neighbors.
Backpack Campaign
The evolution of YulistaCARES' annual Backpack Campaign perfectly illustrates how strategic thinking can transform volunteer burnout into sustainable impact. In 2021, the campaign was managed by just two people—the CARES president and myself—and the workload was overwhelming for volunteers juggling full-time careers. Recognizing this wasn't sustainable, I developed a committee-based structure and pitched it to leadership, implementing the new system in 2022. Now, each aspect of the campaign has a dedicated point of contact: main coordination, backpack sourcing and ordering, campaign tracking, finances, local delivery coordination, non-local delivery coordination, packing party logistics, and marketing and promotion.
This subdivision of responsibilities has been transformative—volunteers can contribute their specific expertise in manageable timeframes, and the campaign now runs smoothly year after year, consistently reaching our goal of 1,700+ backpacks for students nationwide while supporting additional initiatives like the Mertarvik Alaska village relocation
In 2022, I even got to go and deliver backpacks to kids in Alaska!
