Interview with Greg Pereira, 2014 Fast Pitch Arizona Investee winner

Mar 31, 2014

Lindsey Rogers of SVP discusses Greg Pereira’s winning Fast Pitch Experience

Lindsey: What all did your Fast Pitch journey encompass?

Greg: My Fast Pitch journey encompassed several months of intensive mentoring, public speaking practice, quasi grant writing (the written questions), and a lot of self reflection. The journey provides you with so many opportunities to think about strategic ways to make a greater impact on your community and helps you to focus on how your organization is different from similar programs. I was also blown away by the incredible insights and recommendations that I received throughout this process from the Partners.

Lindsey: What was the most challenging part?

The most challenging part for me was to figure out what I needed to leave out of my pitch! You only have three minutes to “change the world” which forces you to make a judgement call on what you will and won’t include. For me personally, I really struggled with two different statistics, I knew that I couldn’t include both in my intro, and I ended up picking the one that I thought would best resonate with the audience.

Lindsey:What went through your mind when you were announced as the next SVP Arizona investee award winner?

Greg: I was ABSOLUTELY THRILLED when they announced SPOT 127. It is almost hard to put it into words, but the other finalist were so incredible that I was honored and completely humbled that our organization was selected. it was a moment that I will never forget and that brings a smile to my face every time that I think about it! The second thing that went through my mind was a sense of responsibility to SVP to make sure that we work as hard as possible to live up to their investment and belief in our program.

Lindsey: How will this experience help you and your organization in the future?

Greg: This experience has already helped our organization! In addition to providing us with the opportunity to present to over 450 people, it really challenged us to examine what we do and how to maximize our resources to make the greatest impact on our community.