Happy Holidays all! Personally, I'm shocked that it's already time for my annual holiday letter. 2015 flew by in a crazy, fun, wonderful rush. I can't think of a year where I've had more fun or learned more new things.
This year's missive comes to you from Cambridge, MA where I relocated from Washington, DC in May. I'm a bit trepidatious about the onset of my first Boston winter, but my first New England summer was beautiful. Cambridge is a cool town and I've really enjoyed exploring the area.
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| Cambridge has this awesome lobster shack |
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| Cambridge is a cool town |
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| Running by the Charles in Cambridge is really nice |
2015 started out with a busy period at work for GlobalGiving and some
fun trips to NYC. We had a cool work outing to the Truman Bowling Alley below the White House.
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| Bowling with GlobalGiving in the White House Bowling Alley |
Leaving DC was a tough decision. I left some true friends behind there and I miss the whole gang at GlobalGiving. Thanks to those of you who helped with the move and all the fun send-offs. I did get back to DC for a conference in November and at least got to see those shining faces for a minute. Thanks to Ingrid, Sarah and Stacey for all taking a shift hosting me on that visit.
Everyone is welcome to visit me in Cambridge. The new apartment is really close to work (3 minute walk commute!) and near a T stop and has a futon with your name on it. I already enjoyed hosting Dorko and the
Stouts (now 3!). Let me know when you are coming to town.
The move to Cambridge was for a new job with
Dimagi, a technology based social enterprise. This is the best job I've ever had and I love going to work every day.
Dimagi does all kinds of innovative and impactful work, but our main product is a platform for the creation of mobile applications that can be used to facilitate development programs. Imagine an app on a phone or tablet that helps a community health worker to do their job better. We're proud to be funded by grant-makers like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID and also by the software subscription fees of our partners like WorldVision, UNICEF and The Harvard School of Public Health. So far, I've worked on projects to help track Ebola contacts and support Ebola recovery as well as a project in 7 countries to help women have better access to family planning. My role on our Global Services team is dead center of the intersection point between my technology and consulting background and my passion for trying to be a part of the solution to the complex problems of our day. From the C-suite to the newest intern, every member of this special group is equal parts zaney, genius, driven, courageous, hilarious, compassionate and empathetic. I've never come across a team this strong and I think there's probably an HBR case to be written on how this start-up created the culture in which we do our work. Do I sound like a zealot? Like I said, it's been a great year.
I had the chance to meet our team in Delhi and visit several of our projects in India in April. It was my
first trip to India and I'm really looking forward to going back.
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| Meeting the amazing Dimagi Delhi team |
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| Dust. Yep. Delhi was hot. |
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| At a hospital in Delhi for my first site visit with Dimagi |
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| Traffic in Delhi lived up to its reputation |
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| Me at Humayun's Tomb |
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| Another site visit at a clinic in India |
In August. I had the chance to
travel to Sierra Leone to support
our work in Ebola response and recovery.
It was eye-opening to see so many international organizations and so many levels of government pull together to respond to the epidemic. As I type this,
there's been no cases for the last 3 weeks and everyone doing this work has their fingers crossed we'll make it to January 14 with no new cases and this long, hard fight can turn to focus fully on recovery and health system strengthening.
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| Visiting Sierra Leone was my first time in West Africa. Evidence of the outbreak was EVERYWHERE. |
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| Sierra Leone pulled together to fight Ebola at the government, organization and business level. This is a sign in a bathroom in a fancy restaurant. |
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| Do ask me about my trip from Freetown to the airport in Port Loko. Probably get a snack first, and get comfortable. |
While I enjoyed and learned so much on my trips to Delhi and Freetown, I spent the bulk of the year in my home office in Cambridge, supporting team members working in Haiti, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana and all over the world. My new family in Cambridge is an absolute riot. There's always someone's birthday or a party or a road race to keep me entertained. For example right now we're currently in the midst of a worldwide
Burpee contest for December, and I'm in the top 5 with 1004 done so far.
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| Dimagi plays as hard as it works. Here's me whiffing on a high five at an office-wide trip to see the Red Sox at Fenway. |
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| Here's the gang from work who ran a half-marathon together in October. |
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| Newburyport was pretty and it was a fun day for a little run. (1:54:54) |
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| As usual, Halloween was Epic. This is me as 'foggy.' This was at the office Halloween party. |
I'm also still in touch with many of my former students from Agahozo-Shalom.
Several are studying in the US and Canada now and I visited a few in Montreal in October. I love these guys.
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| So great to see Serge, Henry and Blameless at McGill in Montreal |
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| It's such an inspiration to see how these students use the life skills they built at ASYV to succeed at University in Canada. |
Between adjusting to the new job and the move to a new city, I probably didn't spend quite enough time with my family this year. Mom is recovering from a major back surgery and continues to manage a large menagerie in North Carolina. I did get to spend spring break with Kate and Lindy and their parents in Rincon, Puerto Rico. (Thanks to Lynn & Robbie for taking me on that trip.) I'm looking forward to seeing the fam again in Raleigh over Christmas. Somehow, while I wasn't looking Kate and Lindy grew up.
Sweet baby Kate is a
high school senior excited to be accepted by UNC Greensboro into their dance program. Lindy (8th grade) is still running the whole family like the mafia don she has always been. Don't let the sweet smile fool you.
I saw my extended family on my mom's side in Louisville over Thanksgiving and, as usual, was treated like royalty. Extra special thanks to my cousin Lucas who gave up his room for the trip and the Gnau's who took me to a UK vs. U of L football game.
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| I got to see my family in Louisville for Thanksgiving. Here's my mom, Kate, Lindy, Lynn & Robbie at Churchill Downs for #Thanksgambling |
Looking forward to 2016, things show no sign of slowing down and I'm excited to keep learning and having new experiences. Best wishes to you and yours for a peaceful and joyous 2016!
~Courtney
66 Pearl St. #1
Cambridge MA 02139
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| On vacation in March with my sister and her family in Puerto Rico |
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