On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!

I hope my charming, warm, annual bulk email finds you well. 2019 was a blur and was largely comprised by a busy year of work at Dimagi. I spent much of the first half of 2019 in Delhi working on a large project there.

While most of the time in India was heads down in our office in Delhi, I did get away to spend a weekend sightseeing Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, a large state in India near Delhi. The whole city is filled with beautiful, amazing architecture. Here’s the entryway for my hotel:


In April, I was delighted to have Caitlin and Keri up from Philly to visit for a fun weekend. Here’s a photo of us hiking in the Blue Hills Reservation on the boardwalk in Ponkapoag pond. The hike is listed as ‘easy’ level of difficulty but that is not my recollection of the rolling and pitching boards.


In May, I was honored to be invited to attend Claude’s graduation from the University of Rochester. Claude was a student who I had the opportunity to work with while I was a fellow at ASYV. It was fun to go back to visit the city of Rochester, not having been there since 1997 or so when my parents lived near there in Victor, NY. The ceremony was beautiful and Claude has a lot of accomplishments to be proud of. After graduation he moved to NYC for a software development job for now. I’m still looking forward to working for him someday.


I spent a big chunk of the month of July in my sister Lynn’s beach house on Oak Island, NC. Thanks so much to Lynn, Robbie, Lindy and Kate for hosting me and taking such good care of me! My nieces Lindy and Kate are now seniors in High School and College respectively and we are all so proud of them and curious to see what comes next. Kate has already started student teaching and is still very active in dance and choreography. Lindy has been accepted to several schools so tune in to next year’s holiday letter for the big reveal.

In August, I was invited to the beautiful wedding of my cousin David to Hannah. We’re lucky to welcome Hannah to our large, and sometimes boisterous, family and it was fabulous to see all of my Louisville family at the celebration. Here’s me and Lynn enjoying the reception out on the Ohio riverbank:


I’m still running a bit and trying to keep active. I’m playing some pickup ultimate on Sundays with good weather and in a BUDA Grand Masters league a few weeks a year. I also ran a couple of road races this year and recently found a wonderful club that meets on Tuesdays and Sundays to run around Cambridge. When I realized how close the group meets to my home (very) I decided the universe was trying to tell me something so I decided to check it out and I’ve had a blast meeting tons of friendly new people. Here’s me and my friend Julie in September at the Salem 10K after party:

In October, I had a great series of internal meetings in our Cape Town office and had the time to hike up Lion’s Head with a few colleagues. Cape Town is a beautiful city and I’m always energized by spending time with the team.

Wishing you and yours peace and health in 2020. Please let me know if you come through Boston and I’ll unfold the futon in my sneaker room for you.


~Courtney

@CourtneyMFK
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So up to the house-top the coursers they flew

Greetings all,

I hope this charming annual bulk email finds you happy and healthy.

2018 was a momentous year for me.

First and foremost the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl!!!

I’ve been waiting for this since I was 7. It was especially satisfying to be in a bar in Boston
for the big game, enjoying a spirited dialogue with local Patriots fans about the team’s
respective qualities.

#FlyEaglesFly.

Next up in the life milestones: I always said I would never do it, but now I’m a homeowner.
When the apartment I was renting was sold to be torn down for condos,
I couldn’t find anything else to rent within a walk to work, so I bought instead.
Now I have a 2bdr Condo in Inman Square in Cambridge.
The whole mortgage process was a terrifying, tear-filled disaster, but it’s over now.
Eternal thanks to lawyer and real estate expert Cousin Matthew for saving my bacon.
I moved in the new place in March. It looks like this:

New address for annual photos of your kids for my fridge:

394 Norfolk St. Unit 2

Cambridge MA, 02139

(Sorry if this news is coming a little out of order. If you already sent me this year’s
fridge photos of your kids to the old address, know that I loved the silly pics and your
kids are adorable.)

Family update: Nieces Kate and Lindy are full blown humans now, so I guess you should
just subscribe to their Instagram if you want to know what they are up to:
Kate is pursuing a BFA in Modern Dance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
and had a great time studying abroad for a semester in New Zealand.
Lindy runs Cary High School like my new MacBook runs Mojave and receives awards for
tennis and good grades in AP classes despite an unmatched Netflix binging endurance.
Lynn is working for NC State in the Student Counseling Center and
Robbie is the principal of Mary Phillips High School in Raleigh.
I spent a week at their beach house in Oak Island NC in the summer and it was a blast.

Mom is enjoying living in Louisville, KY near her sisters, brother, nieces and nephews. She
has some sharp words for whoever’s running the NCAA (see Louisville Basketball FBI investigation) so I guess she’s doing just fine. I spent a week with her and her dogs over Thanksgiving and my cousins took me to Churchill Downs for our annual Thanksgambling adventure:

My cousin's daughters & me: Claire, Hayley, Elise, Me, Gracie and Lauren

Work update: I had a busy year of travel for work, spending time in Dakar, Senegal,
Cape Town, South Africa and Delhi, India.

The Dakar office does high intensity interval training on the roof after the work day.
I had so much fun almost transferred there permanently:

I also did a first scuba dive in Dakar and really enjoyed it.

Here’s me with the western-most tip of Africa behind me:

Work continues to be quite busy. Dimagi’s CommCare platform is in use for hundreds of projects worldwide, including the largest scale mHealth project in the world. Our software tracks 1 out of every 200 births worldwide. Working at this scale is forging new paths and that is both challenging and rewarding.

Air quality is Delhi is pretty bad. Here’s the mask I wear while I walk to work:

Visitors: Thanks to Keri & Caitlin (and soon after Amy) for breaking the seal
on houseguests in the new place. (Keri went straight to work hanging my blinds.)
Amy, I hope there’s another conference here soon, next time bring Dusty and
stay for a Celtics game!

Also wonderful to sync up with my cousin David and his family,
who vacationed this summer on the Cape and invited me out for a beautiful day on the
4th of July.
We also spent a fun day in Boston together on the Freedom Trail and took
a look around Harvard. (Lauren (10) registered for a few classes, but I can really
see her more at MIT.)

My primary non-work interests remain the NBA and following cute (all) dogs on Twitter.
Looking ahead to 2019, I have a spare bedroom now, so come through (although,
I expect to be in Delhi much of Q1).

Wishing you peace in 2019. Happy New Year!

~Courtney

@CourtneyMFK

I got a new headshot for work! (Same blazer as the one from 2014, though…)

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Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash

Oh man. 2017. Whew! I hope this annual holiday letter finds you happy, healthy and well.

Colleagues Lucina, Me and Xian at the 2017 Dimagi Boston Office Holiday Party

2017 was another busy year. I spent most of the year busy at work for Dimagi. I traveled again this year to Delhi and Cape Town for work. I am lucky to have amazing colleagues in both locations and it is always hard to say goodbye when it is time to return home.

In Cape Town, for fun, I went snorkeling with seals. It was a truly amazing experience. They can swim so fast, and swim right up to you and then at the last minute dart around you. They were gorgeous and curious and reminded me of ocean dogs.

In April, I visited my mom in her new home in Louisville, Kentucky for her 70th birthday. It was a great party! (Apparently I had so much fun at the party I didn’t stop to snap a single photo, so you’ll just have to trust me that mom looked great!) Mom has settled right in to her new home and is enjoying spending time with nearby family. I’ll be in Louisville with her and the dogs visiting aunts, uncles and cousins for Christmas.

Summers in New England are beautiful and I did a little exploring of New Hampshire hiking this year:

Here’s me and Keri atop Mt. Moosilauke in July.

This summer I worked for ten days from beautiful Sayulita, Mexico, where I visited one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. Next time you see me, ask me to tell you about my return trip saga, but probably best for not while you are eating. Here’s me and some colleagues on a boat tour of the Marieta Islands:

And here’s me at one of the great taco stands in town drinking a Michelada bigger than my head for 25 pesos.

I also spent five days in August with the whole team together for our annual summit at a beautiful beach house in Cohasset, MA. This is a rare treat as we typically have teammates working in far flung places such as in Haiti, Uganda, and Guatemala so that even selecting a time zone for a group call is a struggle. It was really wonderful to all be in the same room. We had some training sessions on topics like optimizing data for reporting and project scoping, and also ate like kings and queens (Xian’s dumpling night!) and told ghost stories. It was a blast.

The team on the beach at Cohasset.

In August I also went up on the roof (like a genius) with some colleagues to look at the eclipse. In Boston, you really couldn’t see too much. It was still a fun break in the day.

This fall, I was invited by USAID to participate in a panel on Tuberculosis. I learned a number of things from this conference, among them never to trust them when they say they tested the AV, and that one’s bio cannot be too short.

Outside of work, I played BUDA league ultimate in Boston this spring and fall and ran a couple half marathons (slowly). I have determined that by not training for the race, I can save myself many hours, but only lose about fifteen minutes on race day.

I am enjoying watching the NBA this season and have been to a couple hometown Celtics games. They are a fun team to watch.

I had a wonderful visit in October this year from the four Stouts. It was great to see tiny Lucia and get to spend some time with Viviana. (Their parents, Jen and Brian, are still pretty cool too.) I also had a quick visit from the newlyweds Julie Sussman and Dan Bush in December. If you are passing through Boston, please do let me know. I am always delighted to have guests. I promise to offer you something to drink and tell you where we can go to get something to eat.

I visited my sister Lynn, brother-in-law Robbie and my nieces in Raleigh in July and again for Thanksgiving. Kate is a sophomore in college about to study abroad next semester in New Zealand. Lindy is a sophmore in highschool taking AP classes and dancing and playing for the tennis team. She has her learner’s permit now so probably best to stay off the roads in the Raleigh area. My nieces are bigger now, but still very adorable:

Perfect capture of big sister face and little sister face.

Next year, I am looking forward to trips to Delhi and Senegal, playing some ultimate and spending time with family and friends.

Wishing you peace in 2018. Happy New Year!

~Courtney

@CourtneyMFK

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter

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.

Cambridge has this awesome lobster shack

Cambridge is a cool town

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.

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.

Meeting the amazing Dimagi Delhi team 

Dust. Yep. Delhi was hot.

At a hospital in Delhi for my first site visit with Dimagi

Traffic in Delhi lived up to its reputation

Me at Humayun's Tomb

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.

Visiting Sierra Leone was my first time in West Africa. Evidence of the outbreak was EVERYWHERE.

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.

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.

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.

Here's the gang from work who ran a half-marathon together in October.

Newburyport was pretty and it was a fun day for a little run. (1:54:54)

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.

So great to see Serge, Henry and Blameless at McGill in Montreal

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.

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

On vacation in March with my sister and her family in Puerto Rico

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This Time Tomorrow...

So. It has been a long winter. But DC is gorgeous now. It's sunny and 72. DC has this beautiful crisp season of spring for about two weeks before the sticky, humid summer sets in and this is truly it. The cherry blossoms are blooming:

So that has me in a good mood but I'm also so excited about the NBA playoffs. This year looks set to be one of the best playoffs of my entire life. Every single opening round playoff series in the west has riveting big stars. The Spurs won 17 of their last 18 and are THE 6 SEED. And the 'weak east' has the historically good Spurs East (Hawks) and a juggernaut in Cleveland with the best player in the NBA and also a rejuvenated LBJ.  It's all gonna be amazing. It's the best time of the year. (Predictions: Spurs over Warriors in the west, Cavs over Hawks, finals goes Spurs repeat if they are still healthy and Cavs if not.)

My favorite TV series of the last few years just wrapped up. Justified was a great ride and I was team Boyd all the way. I'm working on a fan fiction alternative ending where Ava shot him just to get away from Raylan and they are reunited and run off Bonnie and Clyde style. I'm just a romantic.

Speaking of romance, the new season of Louie is already incredible and Pamela's description of life a la carte has me optimistic about the state of the human race for the first time in decades.

But tomorrow I'm going to New Delhi. New trip for a new job. I was offered a truly wonderful opportunity at one of the coolest companies I'ver ever heard of and I'll be joining Dimagi, a Cambridge based social enterprise that delivers open and innovative technology to help underserved communities everywhere. They're best known for CommCare a truly revolutionary mHealth platform. So I'll be moving to Cambridge and spending some time traveling to their projects and offices around the world. I'm so excited to see New Dehli and meet some members of my team and dive right in to some exciting work where I can leverage my technology delivery experience from the Accenture days. Check back in this space for photos and experiences from my first trip to India soon.

I'll miss my friends (and still believe in the mission) at GlobalGiving. (Thanks to them for the fun send off!) Dimagi is in the same universe and I expect I'll still cross paths with folks from that organization. It's a busy time and I'll keep you posted.