Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristen Mihalko.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
After graduating from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in December 2009, I moved back to San Diego and volunteered at the San Diego Zoo while searching for a full-time job. In fact, I remember telling my supervisor at the zoo that my goal was to work in Balboa Park. The job hunt was daunting but eventually, I found a part-time role at a local homeless family shelter working in children’s programming and then moved over to the emergency domestic violence shelter in the same capacity. A year later, I moved on to another nonprofit working with military children and families. A dramatic shift happened in my life and I found myself in another interview – this time, with the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership. It was an opportunity for me to do what I’ve wanted to do: work in Balboa Park! To say, I was lucky in an understatement but by June 2014, I was working full-time in a place I held dear to my heart. I was quickly introduced to the San Diego Emerging Museum Professionals (originally founded by Stephanie Malyn) through a random message in my work inbox. We formed a great friendship and she asked me to join the board. I take pride in being a founding board member of this wonderful group of emerging museum professionals.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Working for nonprofits is never a “smooth road” and can be a thankless industry. This work isn’t easy and many times it can be drained which can lead to compassion fatigue. I think it’s important to build a community of professionals to help celebrate the successes and commiserate on the failures, whether big or small. In 2013, I tried to find purpose and community through a Master’s program but upon receiving my degree, I felt like I needed something more and I definitely didn’t have a community to fall back on.
My road to museums was not direct – I worked in three nonprofits before landing here and throughout the early stages of my career I felt like I was always searching for purpose. Joining the San Diego Emerging Museum Professionals gave me the opportunity to give back to emerging professionals and find my “community”. Finally, I had a purpose and made some great friends, too!
So, as you know, we’re impressed with San Diego Emerging Museum Professionals – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
San Diego Emerging Museum Professionals is a volunteer group founded by Stephanie Malyn. In 2014, Stephanie pulled together a group of professionals from Balboa Park and began marketing events and activities for emerging museum professionals all over San Diego. Our original board was a powerhouse of emerging professionals in the Park and I think that helped us build trust with the Balboa Park museums who in turn helped us to host events.
From day one, our mission has been facilitating career growth through networking and professional development opportunities. We welcome members from all fields but we are primarily composed of employees, volunteers, interns, and students in their first ten years of a museum-related career. By offering free to low-cost monthly programs we aim to be a valuable resource for San Diego’s museum community. We host happy hours, Craft & Conversations (a facilitated happy hour to discuss museum trends), workshops, and behind-the-scenes tours at local museums to engage and build community with the local emerging professionals.
We are proud of our organic growth over the past four years. We have the largest board we’ve ever had with the most representation from the field. Learn about our board here: https://sandiegoemp.org/about/our-mission/board-members/. We’ve also been able to: build really great partnerships with our local museum organizations, plan and facilitate Torero Treks in Balboa Park with University of San Diego, and continue to build rapport with our local partners including San Diego Museum Council, Rising Arts Leaders, San Diego, and the Society for Experiential Graphic Design, San Diego.
As the Board President, I’m proud of the board we were able to recruit for 2017-2018. Our board members are dedicated to growing our membership and expanding our reach. Our group stands out because of our hardworking board members and our members who continue to support our efforts by attending and sharing our programs with their colleagues and friends. When you attend a San Diego EMP event, you leave feeling welcomed and part of a larger community. Aside from providing accessible programs, it has always been my goal to ensure our emerging professionals felt part of something bigger and that we would be a resource to them as they navigate through the museum field.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Our plans for the future include further developing our stewardship committee and building our membership. We are also working on a partnership with UC San Diego’s Arts and Humanities department to host emerging professionals panels for their students. I also think it will be important for our EMP group to have more discussions and workshops on issues facing the museum field including: equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), representation in the field, and leadership at all levels. I look forward to our board planning events around these core issues and broadening an emerging professional’s understanding of these topics.
The biggest change happening in 2018 is that I’m stepping down as the Board President. It will be bittersweet because I’ve been working with this group since 2014 but I’ve reached my term limit and it’s time to pass the hat. To be honest, I feel that I wouldn’t be where I am in my career today without this group. They’ve grounded me and allowed me to plan programs that I couldn’t do in my day job. I’ve also been invited to participate in the Western Museum Association’s Program Planning Committee due in-part to my involvement with San Diego EMP.
I look forward to San Diego Emerging Museum Professionals continuing to grow under the leadership of our current Vice President (incoming President) Laura Lover, and I know her background with the group will help with the transition.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sandiegoemp.org/
- Email: sandiegoemp@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandiegoemp
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoEMP/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SanDiegoEMP
Image Credit:
Amanda Lopez, Julia Falkowski, Kristen Mihalko, San Diego Emerging Museum Professionals
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
