I. Well, how'd I end up at the J? I started at the j. I was 18 months old. I have a picture in my office of me at the J. I always say it's a very long story. No. Um, so when my. When I was pregnant, uh, we were living in Green Lake, and, um, my husband and I were both commuting to Microsoft at the time, and I very quickly knew that my child at the time was going to go. I didn't know if it was a boy or a girl was going to go to the JCC for preschool. And so quickly we signed up, got her enrolled, moved to Mercer Island. And, um, that's important in that I quickly got involved in the J as a parent, and so I served as a co-chair of the parent committee with actually my sister and then another friend of ours from who we'd grown up with, and the three of us were parent committee co-chairs, which meant that we were kind of in a position of, you know, community leadership with other parents, but that also we had the opportunity to serve on the board of the J and better understand kind of at a higher level, the agency's goals, um, opportunities. And of course, like, where are the key challenges that the agency is trying to, you know, you know, pursue and and overcome? I did that for a couple years and then was off the board for maybe 1 or 2 years, served on the board again as a full member, as a peer board member at large under Judy Newman, who is now retired and my predecessor. But in that role, again, there I was at the board table and able to watch the agency and where it was going. And under Judy's leadership, how much it was able to grow and really move from a place of, um, kind of direct programs and services that that served a small community to really asserting itself again, as a place in the in the region, which we continue to pursue, um, to this day. But rising as a community asset, especially in the fields of like arts and culture and of course, always retaining our strength in early childhood and, you know, the daily life of fitness activities and other types of programs, and, of course, summer camp, which is a huge, uh, element of the J. But as Judy was on, um, leading the J and I was on the board, I always used to say, before you're done, I would love the opportunity to have the conversation about whether this is something I could do, and we would joke about it. And Judy announced, uh, in June of 2016 that she was ready to retire. Was it? Yes. 2016. Um, and very quickly after that, I started receiving phone calls from people who thought it would be a good fit for me. And of course, I was two months ahead of obliterated. There was nothing I was going to think about except for getting thousands of riders out there raising millions of dollars. And so I was obliterated. 2016 past I got a couple more calls and again, someone from that JCC association asking, is this something you'd ever consider? And I said, I don't even want to think about it. And they said, well, was the answer no. If the answer is anything but no, we're going to keep talking. And so I gave myself a couple of weeks and recovered from obliterated and started to recognize a couple different things. Um, first of all, the J's on an incredible trajectory of strength. The energy at the J right now, the strength of the programs, the financial stability and what's what I've learned in the past year, you know, just over a year in my formal role now is the growth of the Jewish community in this region is just surging, and our ability to try to reach those people and engage them in a meaningful way around culture, arts. And, you know, just that's what the J is about. It's Jewish life and culture. And how do we find connection points with the J. For everybody else? And then hopefully, ideally with each other, to continue those elements of Jewish continuity, continuity that define each of us in ways that we personally connect with. Um, so it was kind of like, here's another opportunity to take something that is, again, on a trajectory of growth, but really try to get in there and take it to the next level. And Judy was at a point where she had done amazing things to put the J in an incredible point of strength, and was ready to kind of move on to her next opportunity or in her case, potentially choose to balance a few other things in her life. Um, and so she's been able to, you know, in that it was kind of a beautiful transition because she and I had a really lovely working relationship. Again, me as a board member and her as the executive at the time. And so that was a transition that just felt very natural to both of us, that I could never have done what she did in the years she'd do it. She did it, and she was ready to take on her next thing, as was I. And so the timing worked well, and I jumped in about a year, just over a year ago. 13 months ago. And here I am.
