S moke S ignals
JANUARY 15, 2018
7
'This job is a dream for me'
LEADER continued
from front page
Watson was asked if she would take
on the role early.
“I had to make a decision fast,
but decided to take the plunge,”
she says.
For some, the thought of leading
the 102-year-old Portland City Club
with little experience in such a role
would be terrifying. For Watson, it’s
another learning experience and
opportunity.
She became involved with the
club four years ago at the urging
of friend and past club executive
director and Portland Mayor Sam
Adams. Watson, who had been a
member years earlier, joined its
board of directors in July 2016
and began as president-elect last
March.
“When Sam was executive di-
rector, he urged me to re-engage
here,” Watson says. “I was really
interested in the strong voice the
club has in Portland. The opinion
of the club really matters to people.
I became really intrigued by that
model of how the club became such
a loud voice in the city.”
Her re-involvement with the City
Club started while Watson and her
husband and business partner,
Peter Shanky, still owned Cup-
cake Jones in the Pearl District,
a 10-year-old business they built
from the ground up. The restau-
rant and bakery industry can be a
revolving door, but with Watson’s
leadership, she was able to sell it
when the time was right to pursue
new goals.
“The bakery business is a really
hard, physical job,” she says. “It is
really tiring, seven days a week and
always on call. My husband and I
haven’t had much of a life outside
the bakery.”
After selling the business, the two
took advantage of free flight bene-
fits Shanky receives through his job
at American Airlines, and traveled
to Mexico, Chicago and California.
In August, she began a new job as
director of development and com-
munications for Latino Network in
Portland, and at the same time took
the position as City Club president.
It seems like a big leap, but
Watson says that is was more
a series of several small steps.
During her tenure at the bakery,
she chaired various auctions, com-
munity boards and did volunteer
fundraising. After the business
sold, she took a few months off for
serious soul-searching.
“Going into the nonprofit sector
seemed like a perfect fit,” Watson
says. “This job is a dream for me.
My day job informs my work at the
City Club as well. … There is a lot
of learning involved, but I love it.
It’s two sides of a coin.”
In her position at Latino Net-
work, Watson works on social
justice issues focused on programs
aimed at educating and empower-
ing Multnomah County Latinos.
This helps her as president of the
City Club, whose board members
are working diligently to include
more people of color and women.
“In many ways, the City Club has
reflected Portland culture, for good
or bad,” Watson says. “We are work-
ing hard to dismantle past racism.
Being the first Native American
female president is a great start.”
The City Club is a nonprofit,
nonpartisan education and re-
search-based civic organization
dedicated to community service,
public affairs and leadership de-
velopment, according to its website.
Oregon was at the forefront of
many progressive issues in the
1900s, such as the initiative and
referendum process, direct election
of senators, the commission form of
city government, protective labor
laws and the minimum wage. In
the autumn of 1916, a small group
of men began meeting in the Hazel-
wood Confectionary & Restaurant
in downtown Portland. They were
described as “well-educated, eager
to foster positive change, and dis-
satisfied with the operation of the
city’s public institutions.”
Despite the seemingly progres-
sive goals of the club, it remained
closed to women until 1973.
“My biggest goal is to get back to
the roots of being dissatisfied with
the status quo and also working
hard to make this club inclusive
and reflective of all of Portland,”
Watson says. “We are working
on becoming diverse in age, race,
experience, socioeconomic and
geographic areas, and education.”
This has not been an easy task,
and Watson says she finds her big-
gest challenge in leadership has
been the conversations with some of
the approximately 1,850 members
who see the changes happening in
staff and leadership, but are strug-
gling to understand.
“It is possible to reach under-
standing, and that is exciting, but
these are very difficult conversa-
tions to have as well,” Watson says.
“We are literally trying to redirect a
ship that has been going down one
channel for more than 101 years.”
She describes the current
17-member board of directors as
diverse in age, experience, race,
socioeconomic status and gender.
“It’s a good table to sit at,” Watson
says. “The most rewarding part
is working with the staff. This is
an organization that draws really
dedicated people who love this city
and want to make it better. I am
inspired by how dedicated they are
and how hard they are working for
the club.”
The daily ins and outs of working
with staff and running meetings,
all while holding down a “day job,”
have proven challenging but not
insurmountable for the high-energy
Watson.
“I had to research Robert’s Rules
of Order so I understood how to
run the meetings,” she says. “I’ve
served on boards, but never chaired
anything.”
Watson’s position as City Club
president also includes leading
Friday Forum, a weekly lunchtime
program that includes topics of
interest to Portlanders and Ore-
gonians, and working with staff
on strategy and direction for the
member-driven club.
“It’s a role that lets me be creative
and that’s what I love about it,”
Watson says.
Despite the whirlwind past few
months, Watson is taking it all in
stride. She credits strong women in
her life, such as mother Vera Miller,
sisters Sandy and Roberta Watson,
and aunt Kathryn Harrison, one of
the key figures in the Grand Ronde
Tribe’s Restoration efforts.
“She is an amazing woman and
such a survivor,” Watson says.
“I owe a whole lot of the path I
have taken to women like her. I’ve
appreciated having her guidance
and perspective on the stuff that
is really hard.”
Her father, Tribal Elder Robert
Jones Watson, is also a big moti-
vator.
“He still lives on his own at 88
and works on his land,” she says.
“He is so youthful.”
For the next year or two, Watson
has made a conscious effort not to
set specific career goals.
“I love what I am doing, and could
do this for years,” she says. “I would
love to begin and end the process of
growing an organization.”
She encourages Portland-area
Tribal members to get involved in
the City Club.
“We’re constantly looking for
more people of color and need in-
digenous voices,” Watson says.
Chinuk Winter Stories
Night
We hope you can join us for the evening to have dinner, listen to
a traditional story in Chinuk Wawa, and end with singing and
dancing. Every family in attendance will receive a copy of the
story to take home.
When: Thursday, January 25 th at 5:30
Where: Longhouse
RSVP to Justine Flynn
503-879-2066
justine.flynn@grandronde.org