This month has been circled on my calendar for many years. Well, maybe not this month specifically, but it’s certainly the finish line to a long race.
Ever since I was an intern for the Downtown Arlington Management Corporation as a UTA student, I knew that I wanted to be the CEO of the organization. It was the perfect blend of community building, placemaking, events, and development. This month, I’m honored to say that that dream of mine has become a reality.
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As this transition happens, I’ve been reminiscing on the path that brought me here. What comes to mind most often are the people I’ve met, the relationships I’ve built, and the people who have helped me get to where I am today.
Downtown has brought a lot of people into my life over the years. People like Alicia Gray, who has spent time on the Downtown Arlington Board of Directors and also happened to live across the street from my first college house. Alicia was also the President of the Heart of Arlington Neighborhood Association and was very involved in development. We spent many an afternoon over coffee, discussing development and the pros and cons of different projects. She taught me how to think critically about land use and the people who drive that development. She’s also an excellent baker, so I always knew we could have a conversation with a full belly.
I’ve been lucky to cross paths with people like Mark Joeckel, director of the West Main Arts Festival, who introduced me to several urbanist concepts that changed the way I saw cities and ultimately influenced the kind of work I wanted to do.
Our past board chairs are another example. John Arnot, owner of Coble Cravens Investments and Insurance, has been a trusted advisor, mentor and friend to me over the years. He’s the kind of person who is always willing to offer advice or show up when there’s work to be done. I’ve seen him do that at countless downtown events, including the Classic Car Show, where he’s right there helping wherever he’s needed.
Doreen Bruner has played a similar role in my life. She has been someone I can turn to for advice, but also someone who brings love and joy to this process of relationship building and project growth. Both John and Doreen have become close friends, and both were even at my wedding with their wonderful spouses. Those relationships have grown well beyond a working relationship, which is part of what makes them so meaningful to me. Both the Downtown Arlington board and advisory council are full of mentors and friends, and I’m lucky to continue my work with them to build a better downtown together.
I think we often talk about civic legacy in terms of what someone builds. The businesses they helped bring and the projects they moved forward. Those things matter. But there is another kind of legacy beneath the surface. It lives in the people you helped, the ideas you passed along, and the confidence you gave someone to take the next step.
I’ve been fortunate to have people in my life who have done that for me. People who have shared their experience, challenged the way I think, opened doors and encouraged me to take on things I might not have been ready to take on by myself.
I imagine that some people become friends with their mentors. That has been my experience with my (now former) boss, Maggie Campbell. She was founding president and CEO of Downtown Arlington Management Corporation and has been my longtime mentor.
Maggie is retiring, and I’ll have the opportunity to step into the role she has held for the majority of the organization’s 20-year existence. There is a lifetime of knowledge in Maggie’s mind, along with a unique entrepreneurial spirit you can only come across in a truly special person.
But when I think about what I’ve learned from Maggie, I don’t just think about the work we’ve done together. I think about the countless times she pushed me to think differently or trusted me with something before I was sure I felt like I was ready.
I think that is one of the best things about mentorship. What someone gives you does not necessarily stop with you. You carry it into your own work, your own relationships and, eventually, into the way you help someone else.
This year’s Annual Meeting theme, “Rooted,” has had me thinking about all of this. Being rooted in a place is not just about how long you have been there. It is about knowing the people who came before you and recognizing what you have been given to carry forward.
Downtown Arlington, and Arlington as a whole, has been shaped by generations of people who have given their time and ideas to making this place what it is today. A lot of that history lives in the people and relationships that have been part of downtown over the years.
I’m grateful to be one of the people who gets to learn from that history, and hopefully contribute something that someone else can carry forward someday.
That, to me, is what creates community, and it is a legacy worth building here in Arlington.
