By Maria Mottola, Executive Director, New York Foundation
I am an ambivalent traveler. I get anxious about leaving things that are familiar—it’s disorienting. But once I arrive someplace new, I feel exhilarated; finding yourself in strange surroundings can be jarring, but in a good way.
Just over a year ago, the New York Foundation’s board of trustees allowed me to spend some time on a “sabbatical” of sorts, during which I worked as an executive-on-loan to Gladys Carrión, the Commissioner of the New York State Office of Children & Family Services (OCFS). On top of all my other responsibilities, why take this on now? In the way travel can invigorate you, I was excited by the idea of exploring another sector. I was also unsure whether the skills I had honed over 16 years were useful for navigating any place outside philanthropy. And being a generalist, I wasn’t sure I had the capacity anymore to digest one issue in depth.
Also, I was tired of hearing myself talk about foundations being more proactive as advocates in the public arena, with only a vague idea of what that might look like. It’s easy to pontificate about a hypothetical scenario. It’s harder to advocate for and carry out a realistic approach once you know the landscape.
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