I’m so bad at updating this blog… so bad, in fact, that it took me longer to remember the name of my own blog and find the site and log-in than it did to actually write this post. Yikes.
Anyways, I wanted to provide a bit of a life update for those who I haven’t gotten to catch up with lately!
The biggest update for me personally is that I start grad school in the fall! I’ll be attending American University (Go Eagles!) and getting my Masters in Organizational Development.
Organizational what??
Yes, I know, it’s a bit of a lesser known degree. You thought I was going to get my MBA, didn’t you?!
So did I.
A lot has changed over the last 6 months in regards to my career goals and plans but long story short is that a lot of reflection (and guidance from the Lord) helped me to realize what I was passionate about doing for the long haul. That being said, I’m redirecting my long term focus from the customer experience to the employment experience. My passion for Organizational Development stems from my desire to want to help everyone find satisfaction, purpose, and appreciation at work through impacting culture, change management, team-awareness, and leadership development.
You might say organizational development is where psychology meets business and focuses on impacting the ethos of work. It’s the study of human behavior at work and how to most effectively increase both satisfaction and productivity by improving the workplace. We’re talking change management consulting, leadership development, team retreats, personality assessments….all that good stuff.
I’m super excited to start at American University and their program is a really neat Executive Master’s program that will involve an orientation kick-off retreat (bringing me back to Leadership Fellows days!), a domestic residency, and an international consulting residency. My classes will be once a month on the weekends and will take place within a cohort so I’ll get to be with the same people for class for the next two years. Hope I don’t drive them crazy!!
Andrew could not have been more supportive through this process and it’s been such an encouraging thing for me to experience. The script has flipped a little bit because usually his career is the one that’s driving our schedule, finances, and life changes and now I’m the one in that situation! But his support, grace, excitement for me, and unselfishness has absolutely blown me away. But who is surprised?! He’s the best.
In other news, we just got back from a wonderful vacation, provided by the generosity of the Cathy family and Chick-fil-A, to the Grand Cayman Island. We got to swim with dolphins, snorkel, kiss sting rays, make great new friends, and have some amazing food! Needless to say we were not ready to come home. Our next trip will be to Manhattan next month to visit Chip at his super awesome NYC internship!
Andrew’s been killing it at Chick-fil-A lately and is busier than ever with all that he has his hands in. I think his current favorite work task is sponsoring an upcoming PGA tournament…
We are still loving D.C., our church (National Community Church), our Bocce league, and our jobs.
Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any topic suggestions….on life, fashion, make-up, recipes, or other!
XOXO,
Me
The Newlywed: D.C. Edition 