Pride, Purpose, and the Fears We Don’t Name Out Loud

Insights & activities from April’s Joyful Masterclass

In April 2025, Covve hosted another edition of the Joyful Masterclass for Connection Professionals, a space designed to explore how we show up, speak up, and build relationships that last.

This workshop brought together three expert facilitators, each offering a distinct lens on connection through stories, strategies, and hands-on exercises. The goal is always to apply insight to practice, and to learn together in a space that is conducive to growth in building relationships, both with ourselves and those around us.

Meet the Panellists

Connection Questions with Andrea Diaz

Andrea Diaz started her career in investment banking, living in seven cities in seven years. Along the way, she experienced both the power of community and the ache of disconnection. Today, she’s the co-founder of Casa Cinco, a home for curated experiences that reimagine how we connect to ourselves, each other, and the planet. She also fundraises for the Belong Center, a nonprofit working to end loneliness and foster belonging across the U.S.

Inspired by the Belong Center’s “Drop Off Connection” series, this activity invites people to share something meaningful – beyond titles, roles, or routines.

How to try it:

• Pair up
• Ask: “What’s something you’re proud of but don’t get to talk about much?”
• While listening:
  • Be intentional by going beyond surface-level wins.
  • Be actively curious and ask follow-up questions that explore their world outside of work.
  • Exercise being joyful through celebrating their story, however small it may seem.

Disrupting for Good with Christy Tonge

As a leadership coach, speaker, and community leader, Christy Tonge helps teams and individuals show up with clarity and courage. She leads Culture First San Francisco, hosts the Leaders Get Real podcast, and produces DisruptHR, each a space for authentic conversations and bold thinking.

This activity reframes disruption, not as chaos, but as a force for clarity and change. It invites reflection on personal moments of courage and the values that drove them.

How to try it:

• Partner up and ask: “What’s a moment when you disrupted for good, and what was the value behind it?”
• As a listening partner:
  • Ask thoughtful questions that get to the value or emotion behind the action.
  • Acknowledge their courage, conviction, or insight.

The Double-Edged Dream with Kamilla Pinel

Kamilla Pinel supports high-achieving professionals and teams in creating sustainable success that’s aligned with what really matters. With over a decade of experience in both corporate and startup settings, she brings a clear understanding of what drives, and drains, people at work. Her DREAM framework helps individuals move through fear, burnout, and disconnection toward real alignment.

Every dream comes with a cost. This exercise explores the tension between our biggest goals and the fears that often hold them back.

How to try it:

• Reflect on a meaningful goal.
• Ask yourself or a partner:
  • “What fear or internal conflict does this goal bring up?”
  • “How has this fear affected your progress?”
  • “What’s one small step you can take to move forward anyway?”

A Closing Note

Covve’s workshops are all about honesty with ourselves and each other, and exercising meaningful ways to forge connections. The kind that comes from sitting with discomfort, listening with intention, and showing up with a little less armor.

To everyone who joined this masterclass, thank you. For asking better questions, for holding space, and for reminding us that connection isn’t soft work. It’s the real work.

We look forward to seeing you again soon, and to embracing newcomers who are seeking a space to learn how to build relationships with intention, meaningfully.