Latisha Hill0:54
I went off to a private university in Oregon at Pacific University. I came back because my mom got sick, so I came back home. I went to community colleges, finished there, and then transferred to WSU and finished there. Then I took some time off to work. I really felt like it was important for me to get some perspective of the real world, whatever that is now, and to really understand how I could be of best service for the work I thought I wanted to do. Then I went back later and got my master's in planning at Eastern. Probably to a fault, I have a problem saying no, and so I've served wherever I feel like I can be of most help. Most assistants, and I think that that is both in my professional life and in my personal life. I love the opportunity to give and to have a spirit of generosity because so much has been given to me. I was raised by a village. My mom was a single mother, and she had a brittle kind of health experience as a child. When I was born, she was in a coma for some time, and because of that, my grandparents took me in while she was recuperating multiple times throughout my life. Raised by the Boys and Girls Clubs, or a neighbor, or my family, or the church, or friends and family. When I think about my why and the why of the YWCA, it's that I really feel like we're all called to be a part of that bigger village. If you can impact the lives of children, you can impact the lives of generations of children, and I just think that is something that very few organizations can say they get to do. I'll tell you, it's a heck of a year to be a leader, so it's been challenging. It's been humbling. The problems and challenges we all face as a country and a world are so big, and oftentimes we can feel overwhelmed by them. I feel like it's been a great opportunity to connect with lots of different people, lots of partners, to solve really complex issues collectively. I think that that is kind of the power of the space that we're in right now. I think the best way to inspire people to serve is to serve with them or to serve well. Avista is so blessed because we have so many people that want to give back, and I feel so fortunate to work with some of these folks. So they'll often come and say, 'How should I serve?' or 'Where should I serve?' and all of that, and I'll say, 'What do you love? What makes your toes tingle?' and that's where we should put you. Because if you can put people in places where they love and places where they shine, then that light is just going to spread, and their energy is going to be there, and they're going to do their best work. That's really what you want to do when we inspire people to go out and give something their all. I want to be a person, and I hope that I'm a person that asks the question 'Why? Why are we doing it that way?' or 'Who's not at the table?' or 'What perspective are we missing?' not to be kind of the devil's advocate, but to really encourage us to think more broadly. I think in that way, we can start to unpack and dismantle systems that have not served us well and will continue to not serve us well into the future if we want to really make a difference. If you don't allow people to show up as they are fully, if we don't eliminate racism, you're leaving some incredible talent on the table. We need as many people to be who they are, 110% of them, with all of us together.
