Brownsboro Alliance was pleased to bring Cathy Roberts aboard this year as our new Executive Director.  I took a moment to ask Cathy about some of her reflections on 2012 and expectations for the New Year.

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Emily Sears:  This was your first year as Executive Director for Brownsboro Alliance.  What was the highlight of your first year as Executive Director?

Cathy Roberts:  I think a highlight of this year has been the Polo Match.  I had never been to one and the Brownsboro Community definitely lends itself to such an event.  I learned a lot about the community in helping to organize this event: its horse farms, its sense of “community” to preserve its precious land, its generations of individuals who have worked and farmed the community. Brownsboro is beautiful horse farms, but it is also hardworking people who cherish the land on which they live.

ES:  You work closely with the BA Board Members, many of whom have lived in and served Brownsboro for a number of years.  Can you offer a glimpse of the Board to the Community?  In other words, describe the people working behind the scenes at BA.

CR:  I remember talking with a Board member because I had hit a wall and was frustrated.  At the same time I was saying how I remain in awe of each member on this Board.  Each of them have different strengths that compliment the whole. There is…only respect for each other, what they hold dear, the community in which they live, and how they want it to remain for generations to come.

ES:  I personally have enjoyed your enthusiasm while working along side you this year, Cathy.  What are you looking forward to for Brownsboro Alliance in 2013?

CR:  Moving forward. Brownsboro is still such a work in progress. I am anxious to see how we bridge gaps, bridge thinking, and make Brownsboro shine in its own unique way.

ES:  What have you learned about Brownsboro as a community this year?

CR:  That it has a lot to offer and much to be tapped!  Yes, it is a sprawling landscape of farms and land – but it can be showcased to benefit those who call it home.  I am looking forward to discover how we will proceed to showcase Brownsboro further.  Perhaps we start with the people who live there and why they hold dear to the “Brownsboro Community.”

ES:  How would you encourage Brownsboro residents to get involved with Brownsboro Alliance and in the Brownsboro Community?

CR:  I would like to encourage the Brownsboro community to unify. I really do think most people want the same things: a rural, progressive town that preserves its heritage, that makes the most of its heritage, that protects its heritage and its land.  I think we have to encourage people to listen and learn from Brownsboro Alliance, utilize the website, and become a voice along side us.  We have to keep knocking on doors of our neighbors so we can open the door for the future of Brownsboro.  We need to involve the whole and not just the half — and that will take a genuine concern for the community and a communicating of such to all who call “Brownsboro” home.