Presidents Message
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” —Steve Jobs, Apple Inc. co-founder, chairman and CEO
As we move into November and the holidays approach (and the upcoming birth of my child), I feel this is a good time to talk about Work/Life (&IFMA) Balance. Mr. Jobs said it well, that work fills a large part of our lives and for those of us who go the extra steps to be involved in IFMA, BOMA, IREM, NCHEA, etc. it fills even more. And while work and IFMA are important, there must be a balance with our personal lives or eventually we will burn out or begin to resent or dislike what we do. I know I am one of the worst offenders and I’m sure my husband would agree, that far too often I put work and IFMA in front my personal life. I challenge everyone, including myself, this upcoming holiday season to take a step back, turn off and enjoy the time we have with our family and friends.
That being said… I hope that you will try to attend our Chapter Appreciation Event on November 13th! This is my favorite event of the year where we all get together to celebrate our year of hard work and enjoy each other’s company before the holidays come and things get crazy! We also use this opportunity to hand out the awards for Sponsor of the Year, Committee Member of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Associate Member of the Year and Professional Member of the Year. These 5 prestigious awards go to folks that have gone above and beyond for the Chapter! We are very excited to give these out each year and be able to recognize the people that keep our chapter not only running but thriving! We are so fortunate to have 70+ volunteers; a much higher percentage than most chapters of our size!
This event is also special to me because I have been involved with it since its inception 6 years ago. I remember how nervous and excited we all were at the first event, hoping it would go off without a hitch and wondering if we’d be able to bring to fruition the event that a few people had been envisioning for many years. It was a success and it has been year over year thanks to the tireless efforts of the Programs/Networking Events Committees and Boards who have planned the event in the past and our annual sponsors whose funds allow us to have such a wonderful event at no cost to our members. A special thanks to all of those folks who I have enjoyed working with in planning this event in the past. The first event at the Renaissance Hotel fell the day before my 28th birthday, I got engaged at the second one and this one will fall on my 33rd birthday (and right after my daughters)! It’s been a wonderful 6 years growing and celebrating with IFMA and I hope to be able to join you all this year to celebrate again, but if I can’t, please have a wonderful time and know that I am thankful for all the hard work that you all do for IFMA year-round.
Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to serve as your president this year, and please do not hesitate to contact me if I can assist in making your IFMA membership better in any way!
Laura Shaw
President 2014-2015
