Today we’d like to introduce you to Yogasri Katta.
Hi Yogasri, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Founded in 2015, Key2Finesse is a student-run, registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that recognizes the issues that inhibit our personal growth and is united by a mission of creating tomorrow’s leaders! Each year, we choose a different charity to support and raise awareness for.
Over the past 11 years, Key2Finesse has grown to heights that our founders couldn’t begin to imagine. This organization was started in hopes of creating the leaders of tomorrow. Our founders set out with a goal for their student-run nonprofit that raised funds for local charities, provided a platform for the youth to demonstrate their skills, and promoted life skills such as confidence building and public speaking in the community. In the past we have supported: THAW, PALAV, Blessings in a Backpack, Easterseals, Gleaners Community Food Bank, the Gift of Life Foundation, Angels of Hope, NAMI Metro, and the Abhi Shah Foundation.
In 2024, we partnered with Variety Children’s Charity, raising $146,000 to provide upper-limb prosthetics for more than 30 children. Last year, we partnered with Kids On The Go to support wellness programs and therapy for children with special needs.
Key2Finesse has helped empower countless students across the world to use their voice to serve their community. Apart from fundraisers, we’ve conducted a plethora of workshops and informational events in hopes of providing the youth with critical skills to succeed in the future.
Over the past 11 years, we have raised over $950,000 for various causes in the local Detroit metro area!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As an organization, we have found such pleasure in helping our community, and the work we put into it is mirrored by the people we help and the companies we support. Interestingly, a lot of the time, they end up assisting us when we need extra hands. For instance, when we found ourselves in a position of needing food for an event, we turned to our community partners to help us. And voila: the food appeared.
Since the nature of our work involves hosting large events, often times with up to a thousand people in attendance, things are bound to go wrong. It is not exactly a question of if they will go wrong, but rather what will go wrong and how big the problem will be.
I remember last year at our end-of-year final event, we were getting ready for the awards ceremony, and the plan was to have a video that was a video montage of all the pictures we had taken throughout the season. We were around ten minutes away from the doors opening when we realized the video was not on the slide deck.
At that moment, I was put in charge of finding that slideshow; I took a few deep breaths and thought logically. I was able to work with my team members, and I contacted different people, asking who the last person who had the video was, who made the video, and who had the video on their computer? With the help of my amazing team, we were able to recover the video and put it back onto the slide deck for the awards ceremony without the audience realizing there had been an issue.
That experience taught me that effective leadership is not about having every answer immediately, but about remaining calm and working together to find a solution.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My name is Yogasri Katta, and I serve as an executive board member at Key2finesse. I currently serve on the social media team, where I use my design skills and apply them to other areas. For instance, I curated this year’s clothing line, which involves intricately detailed hoodies and crewnecks as well as a personalizable and friendly t-shirt. When designing clothes, I keep in mind the purpose of the Key2finesse and the people wearing it. Apart from merch, I find myself in a wild card position – designing social media posts for Instagram and TikTok, designing professional write-ups for LinkedIn, designing masterful spreadsheets that aid in effectively managing a team of over 100 individuals, in addition to designing calendars, strategies, and pitches that have aided in fundraising, to date, close to $1 million.
I am best known for being adventurous and social. My intense desire to explore new fields and apply my expertise is deeply rooted in my adventurous nature. I enjoy putting myself in new scenarios, of which in Key2finesse there is no shortage, from running a 5K to raise money for charity to putting myself on stage in front of close to 1,000 people – I have experienced it all. Likewise, my sociability is something many people have noticed since I was young. I truly enjoy becoming friends with new folks and getting to know people, and Key2finesse provides me with the ideal platform to do so.
Each day, I am grateful for the wonderful volunteers, board members, parents, community leaders, and activists that I meet. A key role that I play in many social settings is a humorous one; I enjoy making people laugh and making them smile. Recently, I volunteered at Variety Children’s Charity of Detroit, where I helped fundraise and raise awareness.
At the event, there was a child no older than 7 years old who fell down and skinned his knee. He was crying and scared to get on his bike again. I went over to him and helped him get his cut cleaned and made a joke about superheroes (he had a Marvel shirt on). He laughed—seemingly insignificant, but when it came time for him to approach his bike again, he did it with a confidence I had not previously seen. After some practice rounds that involved close handholding and intense encouragement, he took off to complete a circle around the stadium, training wheels and all. Upon finishing the round, he ran up to me ecstatic with joy and beaming with pride. It warmed my heart to know I was able to help him. I truly think that is what Key2finesse is all about at the end of the day: making people smile. That is what sets me apart from others: my incredible ability to connect with people and make them smile no matter who they are or what the situation is.
As I look back on my Key2finesse career and reflect on what I am most proud of, I’m immediately drawn to cliché answers like the influence I’ve had and the help I’ve been able to give to people in my community. While those answers are cliché, they’re also true. As I look back on the number of people that I’ve been able to help and the amount of good I’ve been able to create in the world and in my community, it’s something that I’m incredibly proud of, and I think it’s something that I’m going to carry with me- that incredible feeling- and it’s something that I’ll keep looking for as I go forward with my life. I have helped raise close to $1 million for local charities, from helping people afford cancer treatment when they had no idea how they would be able to pay those bills, to helping families put meals on the table when they have students and children my age that I have so much in common with, all the way to helping families afford prosthetics. It’s also the awareness I’ve helped raise for these causes, for things like human trafficking and child abuse. I’ve been trained to spot bad situations and help people who are struggling, and I truly think that’s remarkable. I am incredibly proud to say I am someone who made the world a better place.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
My entry point into volunteering was through Key2Finesse. Through Key2Finesse, I was able to work in various settings to give back to my community; I have volunteered in educational, athletic, artistic, professional, medical, and cultural settings. What I found is that I particularly enjoyed volunteering in specific fields; this has impacted me beyond volunteerism; it has shaped my future plans. My advice to people who are new to volunteering is to explore different environments to see which you are most passionate about because this makes the experience even more impactful. This reminds me of a classic proverb that Neil deGrasse Tyson often shares: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.key2finesse.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/key2finesse/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Key2Finesse/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/key2finesse
