Volunteer of the Quarter Spotlight – Leena Riggs

Leena Riggs has been an MPI member for 4 years.  She has served within the Membership committee and currently as Special Events Director on this year’s Board.  Over her time with the Sacramento/Sierra Nevada Chapter Leena has been a support to many in their career growth, and her commitment to MPISSN’s success for fellow members inspired the Board to recognize her as this quarter's Volunteer of the Quarter.  We are grateful to Leena for her participation and glad to share some of her insights to our membership.

Tell us about your role at Visit Rancho Cordova

 I have the pleasure of serving as the Director of Marketing & Partnerships at Visit Rancho Cordova.  My responsibilities include developing the ever-growing marketing team and interns, programs, community engagement, communications, marketing and soon, the Visit Rancho Cordova Foundation.

What do you like the most in what you do

 I love the positive impact- economically and socially- tourism can have on a community.  Sustainable tourism development and the responsible marketing of a destination leads to pride in place, destination capital and equitable economic growth.

How is it you got into hospitality, and how have you been involved in the industry (MPI and other)

 My introduction to events was in sorority at CSUS.  I didn’t realize until my final semester that one could even study hospitality.  So, when I graduated with a history degree, and didn’t want to be a teacher, I looked at grad schools. I moved to Florida and attained my master's degree in Hospitality & Tourism Management from UCF while working at Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando.  I worked in HR, resort recreation, special event operations, and entertainment production.  After closing Sleep Train Arena and opening Golden One Center with the Sacramento Kings, I joined the small-but-mighty- team at Visit Rancho Cordova. 

I’m incredibly fortunate in my role to have the freedom to explore education, networking, and professional advancement. Within this, leadership and my entire team has been and continues to be supportive of my volunteer efforts with MPISSN, MPI Global, Sacramento Children’s Museum, and the Rancho Cordova Chamber of Commerce.

What has helped you to be successful in your career

 Support from my family and friends have been invaluable! At the end of the day, the drive that keeps me going isn’t ambition or a ‘goal’ destination. It’s curiosity.  Success isn’t a title, salary, or feeling of ‘making it.’  Success is continuous improvement.  Improvement may be in the form of greater understanding or the ability to ask better questions.  Either way, nothing happens without curiosity to discover and the courage to recognize opportunities for growth.

What advice do you have for those that are interested in getting involved

Bring a buddy or come be my buddy.  I promise I’m a riot! 

Give yourself time to adjust to volunteering.  You’re going to overcommit yourself at some point. Ask for help!  You’re going to feel like you’re not doing enough/could do better/ can’t change the things you want to change.  Give yourself grace.  It’s volunteering not saving lives and it’s a collaborative process.  It’s like that TikTok song “I don’t suck.  I’m just new at everything!” Come volunteer with MPISSN for awhile and then, like me, you won’t be new at everything anymore!

What value do you see in giving your time to MPISSN and what can others gain from participating/volunteering

Value in volunteerism is completely dependent on the ‘why.’  All ‘why’s’ are valid.

I was volun-told by Karina Barney four years ago that I would be volunteering on the recruitment committee.  As a fresh-faced marketing coordinator, it was a great way to get to know who’s who.  My first time volunteering at an industry association! What a little professional I thought I was.  My ‘why’ was career driven- and that’s okay!  I had time and said ‘why not?’ to additional volunteering with the Emerging Professionals Advisory Council with MPI Global.  I’ve had the pleasure of serving on this committee for four years with two as chair.

Over time, our organization began to see the benefits of sponsorship, volunteering, and engaging with MPISSN.  Another valid ‘why!’

Over the past couple of years, I find my why moving away from a ‘why not’ approach to a ‘but, of course.’  I cannot imagine my professional world- my life in Sacramento- without the friendships MPISSN and MPI Global have afforded me and the opportunities to explore passions, skills, and challenges beyond my role. 

Planners like to visualize the outcome and make it happen.  As a member of MPI, you know there will always be unexpected and unforeseen outcomes to every journey, role, and event. Explore them and see what grows!

Tell us about the joy gardening brings you and about your coffee obsession

If you’re looking for local coffee, I highly recommend Black Sail coffee in Rancho Cordova.  I am subscribed to their coffee-mailers and they send me a random bag of delicious beans every other week.  If I’m not drinking a PSL or Caramel Macchiato (with extra espresso), I’m on my fourth cup of black coffee and loving it.  Sentimentally, black coffee reminds me of my grandfather, early mornings to swim practice with my dad listening to Boston, and FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks.  In reality, my coffee obsession has been doing the heavy lifting for years until my recent ADHD diagnosis and treatment. (I’m not giving up the coffee, though!)

Gardening is a wonderful experiment in chemistry, chaos, and nature’s will.  I’m not one for the gym. So pruning, weeding, planting, digging, building, and harvesting (according to researchers, harvesting releases dopamine) is where I find my joyful movement.  The grounding, pretty flowers, yummy fruits, cheap salads, Halloween pumpkins, and Mycobacterium Vaccae don’t hurt either. (Mycobacterium Vaccae is a bacterium in soil that triggers a release of serotonin in our brains.)

Coffee keeps my moving until I can heal in the garden by playing in the dirt. My garden is like me, great with coffee, full of unfinished projects, uneven terrain and sometimes things grow which I did not expect- or even recall planting.