Odyssey, by definition of the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is "a series of experiences that give knowledge or understanding to someone." By my standard, now being a part of Odyssey, this very online platform you're reading this article from, adheres to that definition.
I encountered Odyssey many times before becoming a part of it. I took notice to the many articles on my Facebook feed from Odyssey. Some pieces were friends sharing their latest article for the platform, while some were viral articles I saw shared over and over by several of my friends. What exactly was Odyssey though? I took the liberty of finding out more when a high school classmate posted on Facebook looking for people in the Morris County area to join Odyssey.
Fast-forward four months and I am now the Editor in Chief of the successful Morris County Odyssey geo-community. But still, what is Odyssey?
"Odyssey is a social discovery platform committed to democratizing content creation while personalizing discovery. Odyssey is built to capture the ideas of many and organically amplify those viewpoints to users around the world, using a hybrid model that incorporates the best aspects of social networking and publishing."
Sound fancy? It is, but in the most personal and rewarding way possible. Odyssey of Morris County represents 25 (and counting!) of the 14,000+ Creators Odyssey is made up of. I joined Odyssey expecting to have a place to write and publish articles. I am glad it has been so much more than simply me and my computer. Now, it's about my team -- the Odyssey of Morris County community. And even though I haven't met each person face to face yet, I've grown to know and appreciate them.
Several months ago we started as 12 strangers put together as a "community." Now, we're a real community of people with a passion for Odyssey and each other. We share our thoughts, words and experiences through funny, personal, political, informative, unique articles each and every week. We are a team that talks almost daily, stalking each other on Instagram, sharing stories and pictures of our travels, suggesting local restaurants to eat at, exchanging names of books to read, sharing things to write about and are growing as an Odyssey community.
Even as we grow and add new people weekly, they hit the ground running and are welcomed right into our community. Our weekly discussions, personal conversations and reading each of their articles has allowed to get to know and enjoy the relationship I have with every person on the team. I can't say they all feel the same way with my nagging (yet loving) texts to get their articles in, never ending emails and several messages a day in the GroupMe -- but I hope they know how much they mean to me and in turn, how much Odyssey means to me.
I am thankful for this experience and how much growth I have been able to see, not only in the quality of work put forth by everyone on the team, but as well as in myself. And I'm happy to say it's all on account of the privilege I have of leading and in turn have been taught from the team of Creators I have.
I stand by the Merriam-Webster definition of odyssey as "a series of experiences that give knowledge or understanding to someone," because while this has been about giving people a voice on the Odyssey platform, I have gained so much thanks to experience of leading my team.
