Life Lessons from My First “Grown Up” Job, Courtesy of the One Boss I’ve Never Forgotten
Sometimes you never know what a lasting impact you have on another person.
Recently I received an email inviting me to a Celebration of Life for a former boss of mine, Donna Kaye Dudley. Donna was my boss at my first “grown up job” at the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind way back in 1990.
She took a chance and hired a fresh out of college woman to work on grants for the large nonprofit where she was the Director of Development. I had two things going for me back then: a journalism degree, which told her I could actually write, and four years of working in the Development office at my college and helping with various fundraising tasks, which told her I wasn’t afraid to ask people for money.
Twenty-one years older than me, Donna was the kind of woman my younger self always hoped I would be: outspoken, unmarried, successful, and unwaveringly supportive of equality for women, people of color, and LGBTQ populations. She was the kind of person who was unabashedly, unapologetically, and unreservedly herself.
She had the most infectious laugh and a beautiful smile. She loved music and performance and liked to tease me about how the music I listened was nothing like the “good…
