People of Pro Bono: Tola Begbaaji

Indiana resident Tola Begbaaji is an experienced Program and Product Manager. She is one of countless professionals who stepped up this year to volunteer valuable skills to organizations fighting for human rights and equity during the ongoing national immigration crisis.

I feel inspired when my work is making a difference in the world

In my professional life, I am a program and product manager, but over the past 2 years I’ve donated over 250 hours as a pro bono consultant. My superpowers are problem-solving, troubleshooting, team building, and people management.

Fighting for immigrant rights armed with CRM expertise

Recently I worked with Just Neighbors, a Virginia nonprofit that supports the immigrant community through legal education and pro bono. I loved their mission of helping people who are seeking a better life in the United States, and I think this work is so necessary in today’s political climate. I was already volunteering with another organization as a refugee mentor, so I had personal experience with how little people have when they come here. The thought that someone would actually setup an organization to help immigrants navigate the legal process as well was so compelling to me.

The team at Just Neighbors was great to work with because they knew exactly what they wanted from our CRM database design project which made my job as a volunteer easier. I was able to use my expertise to make a suggestion about how Salesforce could be used to track their client information and then actually do the tweaking to tailor the system to be exactly what they needed. Armed with their updated client management system, this awesome nonprofit can replace an aging system with something that can grow with their organization.

Dive into your own passion project

To Just Neighbors, and the other nonprofits I’ve been able to volunteer with through Taproot, I just want to say: keep doing the good work. You’re making a difference in this world. And to my fellow professionals: Do pro bono! You won’t regret it. Get your feet wet with one project and take it from there.

Join Tola by making a difference using your professional talents. Get started today on Taproot Plus.