Senior Director of Partner Engagement

A New Season for LYA

Hi friends! How is it already March? I had all the intentions to start fresh in 2024 with new content and ideas to bring to your home. Well, let’s say that life went in a different direction!

For almost a decade, I have had the privilege of building my business through design, blogging, and content creation. It has opened doors for me to gain amazing friendships, experience the most wonderful opportunities (hello White House), and financially provide for my family. My business has continued to grow with each year surpassing the last. But even with all this growth, I started to feel a restlessness in my spirit. 

Once January hit, God placed the word “release” on my heart and what I thought it meant was different than what I originally imagined. As many of you know, Jimmy was laid off from his job on November 1st. He came on board as my assistant and we had a blast creating content together. I knew that it was only temporary but it gave us the confidence in knowing that one day if we wanted to go that route, we would have the best time being business partners. With him being laid off, we spent a lot of time processing everything together and I helped him navigate his worries and the pressure of not finding a job as quickly as he hoped. These conversations started to spur something in my own heart as we discussed our family’s priorities and what we wanted to focus on in the future. 

 

 

We had spent the better part of early January putting together my content calendar and I had begun filming and editing videos to share with you all. Jimmy even made us cute aprons! But once I started to get ready to post, something in me couldn’t do it. I can’t explain this other than the fact that the restless feeling was too much to ignore. I grew tired of posting my regular content and felt an overwhelming sadness with world events. So instead of posting and going about my normal business, I decided to look into LinkedIn for the first time to see what other jobs were out there. I had never considered the option of doing a career change but suddenly, I desired to see what other opportunities existed. Jimmy helped me create a resume and cover letter which I had not done in over 15 years and I decided to apply to a few jobs.

 

 

I had a conversation with my sister, Yun Mi sharing how I was wrestling with these feelings and contemplating a career change. Maybe I was going through a midlife crisis? She said that she believed God was going to put something in front of me that I would not have even planned or imagined and it would be so different from my current career. I received those words and even though I didn’t truly believe it then, I trusted whatever God had for me and released my ideas of what that would look like. 

I applied for a marketing director position for a local builder (they never got back to me) along with a communications coordinator position at a golf community (I was rejected) and I needed some references. I immediately thought of my friend Kendra who is the executive director at Friends of Refugees because we have been friends since college and because they had hired me to help design their hospitality house about 1.5 years ago. She responded by saying they opened a new position that would entail a combination of people skills, marketing, fundraising, and communications. It piqued my interest but because it was located in Clarkston, I didn’t know if it would work practically for me. Plus, what do I know about non-profit organizations? We ended up having a conversation with her sharing more about this new position that was greatly needed at Friends of Refugees. The more I learned about the position, the more my interest grew.

 

 

Before I go further, I need to share a little backstory on Clarkston. Even though I went to college at Emory, I didn’t know Clarkston was just around the corner and was referred to as “the most diverse square mile in America” and “the Ellis Island of the South.” In the 1990s, refugee resettlement programs identified Clarkston as a good fit for displaced persons of many backgrounds. Since then, Clarkston has for more than 60,000 refugees, become their first American home. After college, Jimmy and I got married and we even lived in Clarkston for a year when Jules had just turned 1. Living there opened my eyes and heart to the needs of the refugee community and it made a lasting impression on our little family. Since then, Clarkston has continued to pull us back in different ways. Jimmy and I became donor partners a couple of years ago with Friends of Refugees and I had the opportunity to help create beauty in the hospitality house.

Ok fast forward a lot and by the end of January of this year, Jimmy got hired and joined a new company. Yay!! By this time, I had applied and gone through my first round of interviews with Friends of Refugees. Then, I had my second round, and just recently, I finished my last. In total, I was interviewed by 8 individuals who are part of the senior leadership team, directors of various programs, or board members. There was a lot of preparation and research that went in before these interviews but I felt a wave of peace throughout the whole process. 

Even though I have no experience in the non-profit world, I do believe the skills I have acquired over the last decade can be helpful to FOR (I’m just going to abbreviate going forward). I’m grateful that FOR believes that I will bring fresh, new ideas and valuable insight to their team. The largest responsibility of this job will be to create strategies built around fundraising and donor cultivation as well as managing a team. I do believe that not enough people know about the good work that is being done in Clarkston with FOR. The responsibilities feel large and quite overwhelming to be honest since I’ll have to learn how to strategize what the most critical needs are. But I’m soooo excited to be a part of this organization and working with such an amazing and dynamic group of people. 

 

 

 

What does all this mean for Love Your Abode? Don’t worry, it isn’t going away! However, I will be accepting fewer contracts with my favorite brands. There is a lot of pressure on social media to be consistent and get the algorithm to work on your behalf and I’m so happy to not have to think about that anymore. Honestly, I have been happier being off social media and it was further confirmation that I needed a new change of scenery. So you will still see me on Instagram and TikTok but it may be super random and less often. But I promise it’ll still be just as fun, crazy, and real as always. 

So much has happened in the last two months! That’s why I needed to take a breather and focus without online distractions. We also had to research buying another car, transition Jimmy going back into work after being home since the pandemic, get new health insurance for the family, and just all the necessary adulting things when big life changes happen. Thank you, sweet sweet friends, who sent me so many direct messages on Instagram and even emails making sure I was alive and well. Honestly, I have never been better! As I set out to focus on preparing for these interviews, I also took the time to fully enjoy my sabbatical by reading a bunch of books, meeting with friends, and playing a ton of golf. It has been glorious! I even took a trip to Miami (my new favorite city) to celebrate my sister turning 40. If you love golf, hit me up because one of the big events I want to plan is a golf tournament fundraiser for FOR. 

 

 

Thanks for always being here. You have been a huge part of the success of LYA and I am and will always be so grateful. And now for my shameless plug-in, if you follow me on IG, you have heard me talk about FOR but it’s truly because I do believe the work they are doing is so amazing. When I toured their facilities recently, I saw the needs of the organization firsthand and how donor partners truly make it a collaborative effort. If you are interested in learning more about FOR, I would LOVE to talk to you about it and how you too can partner with us and join in different ways. You can still email me at loveyourabode@gmail.com. Oh yeah, my official title is Senior Director of Partnership Engagement! I am feeling excited, overwhelmed, and just so happy with this new season.

As always, I thank every one of you who helped make my little corner on the internet a safe, happy, and lovely place. And lastly, thanks to my amazing community of friends and family who have cheered me on through my long interview process. They have prayed over me, checked in on me, and encouraged my heart so much. You know who you are and I love you dearly! 

 

Let all that you do be done in Love. 1 Corinthians 16:14