Big welcome to another incredible addition to our Campaign Cabinet, Alicia Adams!
Talk to us about being on the Campaign Cabinet. What motivated you to want to get involved?
I decided to accept the invitation to join the Campaign Cabinet despite my already overloaded schedule for two reasons. First, when life is crazy busy, it's easy to become self-focused. Most of what we do is related to our own needs (our work, our family, etc.), so getting involved in something like United Way forces me to look up and out, which is good for the soul. Second, the Cabinet and the United Way team include world-class leaders and influencers. Who in their right mind would pass up the opportunity to learn from a group like that? Not me!
There are so many ways to give back and be involved with charitable organizations. Why do you choose United Way?
I love that United Way is known, so their reputation lends credibility to our work. I also believe their model of collecting resources and distributing them to the places with the most need is effective and smart.
Tell us a little about your role with your organization and what you do!
I'm the Director of Marketing at Pacific Press Publishing Association in Nampa. I focus about 70 percent on social media and email marketing, and 30 percent on other projects. We are the official publishing and printing house for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America. Each year, we publish about 75 new Christian books, as well as vegan and vegetarian cookbooks and health materials, which we sell, along with Bibles and other resources, on our retail website, AdventistBookCenter.com. We also print and ship hundreds of thousands of magazines, flyers, etc. Though you won't see signage from the road, we have a Christian book and health food store inside the lobby, which is open to the public 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
What are you doing when you’re not working your tail off at your place of employment or for United Way?
Right now, my primary project is managing the construction of our house. That is a huge task! I love to travel, but since that's not happening right now, I may start another master's degree program once the house is finished. I'd like to be able to teach college communication classes on the side, but because my current master's degree is not in that field, I don't qualify to teach at accredited institutions. I love school and learning; my kids roll their eyes at me when I get all geeked out about the smell of new folders and pencils.