Today we continued with the transition state of the office, and spent all day moving things from one room into another 4CORE office (previously used primarily for weatherization) right next door. Everyone moved everything from desks and countless supplies to contents of refrigerators and plants to the next room, which was being setup in a way for everyone to somehow fit into this smaller office. After lunch Teresa and I did our interview that the LINK program had scheduled to be done by tomorrow. These were pretty much the two things that happened today. The interview I conducted with Teresa took about ten minutes, and is below:
Q: What did you study in college and how did that help you to be where you are today?
A: I majored in Environmental Science, with an emphasis on Marine Ecology, which doesn't really relate to what I do now, but it made me realize that Science isn't the answer. I think education is a better form of changing people's behaviors, and now I do that through marketing and outreach. There are obviously problems in the world that need to be addressed and we don't need to study those any more in my mind, they exist, and I realized that I can have more of an impact by doing educational activities rather than studying specialized research topics. That's how I came to be in educational outreach, although I still love science.
Q: Resource Efficiency isn't necessarily a well known occupation, how would you best describe 4CORE to someone who didn't know about it?
A: I always tell people that we help them save money on their utility bills! That money seems to speak to everybody, everyone speaks that language and that's how I often explain 4CORE. As a bonus, you save energy, you save potential pollution, are more efficient with your water use, and will also help future generations by conserving these resources. Not to mention, we decrease our dependance on foreign oils.
Q: I'm sure working in this field has its fair share of rough patches, especially as Program Manager, how do you overcome these challenges?
A: I think the most difficult thing to deal with is working with people who believe different things than we do, and that are very vocal about them. The best way to deal with them is to use that language that speaks to everybody: money. We talk about how this isn't just about saving the planet, or battling climate change, since a lot of people don't believe in climate change. We try to overcome these challenges by using a language that everyone can relate to. There are still people who don't believe in 4CORE existing as an organization, and there will always be people in the world who disagree so we just try to appeal to the mainstream people and inform them the best that we can.
Q: What time of year has 4CORE found to be busiest or slowest, and why do you think that is?
A: Summer is definitely our busiest season, and a big part of that is our Weatherization and that our people are able to get out and do more of that with the weather cooperating. There are also a lot of events in the past that we have attended in the summer, such as the county fair. As these public events start happening we get busier in the summer.
Q: (^) Does this ever pose a problem with your career as far as stress or challenges, especially in Durango's economy?
A: I'd say it goes up and down on a monthly basis anyway, it doesn't seem to affect me as much as it would affect the Weatherization crews for instance. Certainly as we have more events, it affects me, but we're also re-thinking our strategy and reaching out to the community. Obviously some of our other challenges as a non-profit organization, are funding. That has to do with how we need to diversify our funding with federal and state grants, local sponsors, and that is always stressful, and people get laid off when we don't make enough money!
Q: If you had the chance to take a different career path, would you? And what would it be?
A: When I first started college I was really interested in Architecture, and now I'm very interested in design in that form, but also landscapes design and agriculture. That doesn't have much to do with what I do now, but as far as agriculture goes, you produce food locally, you don't have to transport it and that generates money for our economy. I am also very interested in farming! That might even be my next career if I have one. Farming is a lot of hard work though, and it takes a lot of time which I can't afford to do right now, especially with Sonora! [Teresa's 8 1/2 month old baby]
Q: Since you've had Sonora, what has been the most difficult thing about keeping up with work and raising her? (Balance)
A:Well I work at home with her, and as she gets older and more engaged that gets hard since the only time I'm really good at working at home are when she's asleep or really focused on a task of her own, which isn't very often anymore. It's hard because I want to be a good mom and be good at my job and to be able to do both of those things makes you not as good as you could be at either of them. Another thing is that I can't afford to do anything else now, so it's sometimes hard to find that balance. It's definitely a challenge.
Q: Who has impacted you the most in your life? And how did they influence you?
A: I'd say my mother was my biggest influence to me. She was a single mom of three girls and managed to get her master's degree while raising us, working full time, and putting us all through school. She is currently a freelance grant writer and used to work up at Colorado State University as a director of a program there. She worked really hard and also taught me a lot. I feel that I am like her in that I am a writer. She inspired me to want to go to college and get a good job when I grew up.
Q: What has working with 4CORE taught you that has changed something, if anything, in your everyday life?
A: It definitely has taught me a lot about building science. I, for instance, did a radon test on my house and found that it was 4 or 5 times the amount is recommended. I have made my home more energy efficient as well as overall awareness for me. The culture here is people who live and breathe being resource and energy efficient and in a lot of ways that's inspirational.
Q:What advice do you have for someone who is interested in starting a career in this field?
A: I would say definitely take advantage of all the free training out there. 4CORE offers a lot of free training and you just have to look around for those different possibilities, from job opportunities to attending expo's and getting internships, there's a lot of room in this field to come in knowing more than the average person might. It helps when it comes to learning the ropes on non-profits and how it works with funding and grants. You just need to be proactive with what you look for in training, the possibilities are endless.
