Crista McPherson | YWCA Women of Excellence
TK: What inspires you?
CRISTA: I find inspiration from many different places. People, learning, and continuing to grow emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually are all ways that I get inspired to be better and do better. If you are not learning from those around you, those in leadership roles, or even children, you are not doing your part to grow and be a better person. Everyone has something to offer, and it's our job as individuals to listen, learn and grow.
TK: What have you learned about yourself through the challenges of the past year and a half?
CRISTA: I've learned that "need" or "necessity" is my motivator for creativity. We all struggled to find modifications to our previously known "normal" day-to-day activities. I felt so obligated to our team and trying to find ways to help them and their families. We had to get creative with solutions to the problems our team was facing both professionally and personally. For example, when schools shut down and parents had to become teachers, we decided to turn our largest conference room into the Learning Lounge. We hired individuals to help our team members' children with logging onto their school webinar classes and monitoring. It was something small that we could do to help our team manage the pressures of the pandemic. It was the necessity to help our team that formed the Learning Lounge's creative solution.
TK: How do you take care of yourself?
CRISTA: I am very fortunate that I am healthy and can live an active lifestyle. I'm grateful that I can use exercise as a physical tool and as a mental clarity booster. From a young age, I was taught to get up and get busy. I am what some would refer to as the dreaded "morning person." I enjoy my early mornings either for workouts or for the quiet, reflective time before the world gets into my space.
TK: What is the best advice you've ever been given? Or what advice do you have for others?
CRISTA: I’I don't know if it's the best advice, but I continue to live by it, and most commonly use is, "Nothing good happens after midnight," spoken by my dad and always followed it up, so you better be home by 12. I learned another piece of advice later in life, but I believe it to be excellent, "Bad news doesn't get better with time." It is always better to address the hard stuff straight on. Time only complicates the problem and solutions.
TK: What is your vision for our community? Has it changed through the pandemic and racial justice reckoning of 2020?
CRISTA: As a society, we have a lot of work to do within our communities, and I do not think the pandemic or racial justice reckoning of 2020 has changed this view. I believe we as individuals need to step back and empathize with each other to understand the origin of the problems. It is not enough to only focus on solutions. We need to understand and acknowledge the pain and anger from both sides to come together for productive solutions. It starts by hearing, accepting, and genuinely identifying with everyone's different plights that have brought about this divide in our country.
TK: The mission of YWCA is to eliminate racism, empower women and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. What does YWCA's mission mean to you?
CRISTA: It is hard to communicate how important ALL of these pursuits are to our community and our Nation. Over centuries a divide has been created in our communities, and recently it was exposed and magnified. This divide is a significant threat to our future and the future of the next generations. The damage that has been done and continues needs to be acknowledged and collectively navigated to understand how we can be better human beings and leaders. It is the responsibility of everyone to evaluate the impact their views, language, and actions have on future generations.
The YWCA is on a mission to empower women at all stages in their careers. Diversity in leadership is particularly vital to our vibrant business community in the Greater Topeka Area.
