Catherine Gibson

I can't take full credit for my success. I've been prepared for all of the opportunities that come before me, but a lot of it is just the universal lining, and doors opening, and people wanting to work with me and wanting to give me a chance. You have to be prepared for any opportunity that comes, but at the end of the day, a lot of it is just out of your hands. What I contribute to my success is being prepared and also just being aware that it doesn't all depend on me. You have all of these experiences, and you are prepared for the opportunities, but you don't really know what's going to pop up.

The best career advice I've received is to remember that there are people behind every position. You're not just working on a project or for an organization - you're working with people, and they really are the most important at the end of the day. Yes, you need to keep the project rolling, make your deliverables, and do all these things, but you're dealing with humans. You have to take that into consideration. You have to be accountable for yourself and hold others accountable, but you don't have to be a pushover just because you're people-oriented. Getting the best out of people also includes accountability and a certain level of excellence. I got this advice from someone in my previous position when we were doing a lot of growing - you gotta work with these people, you gotta hire people that your team wants to work with.

For young women entering food banking, I would say you really have to protect your mind and your heart. So many people in this industry give all of themselves because the need is so great, and it's on your heart, and it's in you that you want to help people. But you have to create a little bit of space, and you have to remember that this is a professional environment. Yes, I am mission-driven, but I have to take care of myself. You will burn out extremely quickly in this industry if you don't set pretty clear boundaries about that. For international development, my advice would be to wait a few years and see how things go, because that industry has been slashed pretty significantly right now.

The biggest challenge in food banking right now is that people give so much of themselves to their jobs in this industry that it becomes personal. Any programming that someone has been working on is not a program at work, it's their program. So if you want to change things, if you're trying to make things more efficient, or if you're trying to include another actor in a system, it is very, very difficult. It's not a normal professional environment because people give so much of their own blood, sweat, and tears, money, and time outside of work to this mission. That's beautiful and really unique, but it also creates different challenges. You have people who are like, 'This is my industry, this is my food bank, this is my program,' and times have changed. We have apps on our phone now, and we have to update what we're doing. The trickiest thing is learning how to navigate and how to be respectful of how much people are invested, but also navigate the fact that things have to change sometimes. Nothing can stay the same or it's not gonna survive.

One of the most important values I've been wrestling with this past year is accountability, because before I really saw it as punitive, and now I see it as empowering. If you don't know where you stand towards reaching your goal, you're not going to reach it. That definition shift has been really empowering to me in my work, and it takes all the shame away from not having completed something the way I wanted to. I strive for excellence, so if I don't get it, I can be rather hard on myself and others, to be honest. Having this kind of definition of accountability which isn't punitive - it's just saying, this is where we are, this is where we're going - is really important. You can switch your finish line because of certain factors, but you can't do that unless you're clear and accountable. I also believe that one of my goals in life is to make a positive impact through good relationships. You want to remember that you're not just working on a project or for an organization - you're working with people. They really are the most important at the end of the day. My faith also inspires my work - it's mission-driven, feeding the hungry. There are different verses in the Old Testament and the New Testament about making sure that you're taking care of your community, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and taking care of people.