Tori Karlek

Part 1 of 3: We’re introducing the entire team over at Queen City Forward. After meeting Tori meet Charles Thomas and Christie Kahil. The full team is here.

Hi! Meet Tori. She’s the newest addition to the QCF team. I have the pleasure of seeing her quite regularly working out of @809. She describes herself as awkward below. I call it unique, charming and being real. She also has an unrivaled ability to light up a room with her positive attitude and smile. We need more people like Tori here in Charlotte. She’s awesome. You should meet her.

What are you most passionate about?

This is one is kind of tough to answer and I say that because i’m passionate about a lot of things. People that know me know I get really excited about stuff. I would have to say the things that I care most about and think about most on a day to day basis would be just being kind and a good person. No matter what your belief system is at the end of the day we can all agree that we were created to be good. We are here for each other. We are here help each other out and improve each others lives. A measure of a successful day for me is whether I was the most kind and good version of Tori. That’s my biggest motivator.

I’m passionate about funny things. I like funny TV shows. I love when my friends send me random funny pictures from the internet. I saw a video of cat today with midget legs and watched it probably six times in a row. I’m also really passionate about awesome coffee.

What absolutely frustrates you?

Not being the best at what I’m doing and that’s kind of a personal thing. I wasn’t necessarily raised with a lot of aspiration. I didn’t have to make certain grades or reach certain achievements. It was all stuff that I had to put on my own shoulders. For me… I can use this job as an example. This job with QCF. I’m still new to the social entrepreneurial space and so not knowing everything there is to know about it which is a lot just bugs me. I want to have all the answers to every question. Whether it’s about QCF or our cohort. The students ask me questions and not being able to give them the best answer definitely frustrates me. Also traffic… it’s the biggest waste of time.

What is your greatest indulgence?

The obvious thing would be food and really donuts. I’m a pretty healthy eater but there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for a donut. Chips and guac too. More seriously…I hate to use the word lazy cause I’m very much a go getter but it’s also really easy to turn on Netflix and sit and do nothing for an hour and a half before i’ve realized how much time has gone by. I wish I was better about that.

If you had visitors in town and had two hours to take them anywhere in Charlotte where would that be?

Oh my gosh. Great question. When I go to new cities my favorite thing is to take in the skyline, the noise and the lights. I went to New York this past weekend and I’m pretty sure I spent a good chunk of my time just standing in Times Square spinning in circles and looking at everything. I would have to say for two hours I would bring them uptown, go out to eat and then just walk around. Maybe finish of at Not Just Coffee at 7th Street Market. Sounds like a good day to me.

What is your least favorite trait about yourself?

I think that I don’t have the confidence I should have. James Stewart of Detailed Block recently did a profile on me. I shared it with friends on social media and made the comment about myself being an awkward person. I joke about it but there are times that I’m comfortable with this kind of thing and others when I just really don’t take a compliment very well. I’m that person that turns around when someone compliments and me and says oh its nothing or make it seem like a less deal then it is. That’s something that I’ve tried to work on since becoming a career woman so to speak. I’m still young and I have time to grow but it still frustrates me.

Joanne asked if you could combine two animals what animals would they be and why?

Sea otter for sure would have to be a part of anything. They are literally the cutest things in the world. I feel like a cat would be good with a sea otter. I don’t love cats but I see that being a really interesting and adorable animal as long as the face is the sea otters face. It could have flippers, the body and tail of a cat. I want one now.

You can find Tori on twitter @Torikae_13.