By Ginny Cooper
You may know Kathleen Taylor, APR as a public relations professional. You may know her as a runner. You may know her as a friend. You may know her as a singer… but I, and the rest of the Leadership Team, know her as a bridge builder.
Determined to join together parts of our chapter, parts of our association and parts of our professional network in the community, Kathleen began building with her first issue of Thursday Thoughts – a weekly communication to the Leadership Team she designed to keep us all attuned to everything that was going on – for there was a lot that was happening! Like a beam bridge – a horizontal span supported on either end by piers – she drew us all closer together, and the closer together the piers are, the stronger the bridge.
Relying on the strength and power of the mystical triangle, as does a truss bridge, Kathleen spanned the distance between our chapter members and the state association with ramped up digital and social media efforts such as our e-newsletter, chapter blog, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, smoothly directing the flow of information. As a member of the state Board of Directors, she accepted responsibilities on the state level that many of us here on the local level didn’t even know about.
Kathleen even crossed the great divide between FPRA and our local AdFed chapter by championing joint social events, encouraging dual memberships and supporting the professional development offerings of both organizations with not only her promotional efforts, but also her personal involvement. Like the arch bridge whose structure is unstable until the parts meet in the middle, Kathleen provided the keystone.
As she accepts her well deserved accolades over the concluding days of her presidency, Kathleen can take pride in her accomplishments over the past year. She has built anchorages – the bases into which those tall towers of a suspension bridge are set. She has engineered the placement of the cables from which our roadway hangs. Our chapter can move smoothly into the future because of the bridge building which Kathleen has personally done and which she has led her board of directors to do as well.