Humberto Freire: Spreadsheet Master
by Audrianna Davis
Originally written for Issue 8 of the W.A.N.D. in 2016
If anyone ever needed a time turner in real life, it’d be volunteer Resource Development Team Leader Humberto Freire. Although only 18 years old, he’s already mastered a level of organization and focus that allows him to serve not only as one of the busiest members of the Chapters staff, but also as the Chapter Organizer for the first and only Portuguese chapter, the CTX Squad, and to study as a first-year medical student. His organization can be attributed to the spreadsheets he creates to manage all of his projects. That’s just the beginning of what Humberto’s supervisor, Chapters Director Janae Phillips, calls his “continuously impressive reputation on staff.”
It was only 9 months after starting his chapter that Humberto was hired on as a volunteer team leader. He manages the team of volunteers within the Chapters department that creates all of the resource documents for upcoming campaigns. The Resource Development team is responsible for the vast library of information available to chapters across the world. “I love getting all the resources done because I feel they are a guide for our chapters community to help [Fandom Forward],” Humberto says, “We are making a difference and helping others do that as well! That is amazing to me.”
The Chapters department encourages leadership and provides plenty of opportunities for team leaders to come up with their own projects and do their own thing, which Humberto has taken to marvelously. His favorite project has been translating chapter resources into Portuguese.
Additionally, Humberto handles the Chapter Organizer forums, where COs ask questions and share ideas. Janae says it is one of his standout accomplishments on staff, “He really took ownership of the forums and added a whole bunch of stuff they didn’t have before,” which includes handling all of the software tickets and totally transforming the way the forums look and how they function. He also stood out during last year’s Accio Books! drive, where he created and handled all of the spreadsheets that tracked how many books each chapter submitted toward their goal.
Productivity and efficiency aside, Humberto is best known for his creativity and sense of humor. Janae says everybody on Chapters staff adores him because he’s so nice, polite, and understanding of everything, “The attitude and positivity he brings to the team makes him really special and makes him stand out.”