"Craft Talkers" Brian West and Iao Katagiri were our speakers on 10/31/03.
"It's All About Others"
Brian (shown with Ann Greenspun on the left and Shirley
Dowling) originally hails from West Virginia, and considers himself a
country boy. He told us that he when he was very young he moved from West
Virginia and grew up in Wyoming.
At the age of 20 Brian moved back to West Virginia, and
met his wife-to-be at a Skating rink. Brian told us that he now has three
children. His son developed a love for baseball, and therefore Brian
developed a passion for coaching little league.
In 1996, he was commissioned as an officer in the
Salvation Army. His first assignment was a six month stint in Las Vegas
followed by an assignment in Laughlin, Nevada, which he described as one of
the hottest places on Earth. He recently moved to Santa Monica to become the
Captain.
Brian told us that he loves working for the Salvation
Army, and talked about the many different hats that he has to wear from
counseling to ministering to administration.
He brought the Salvation Army’s officer manual with him
and read to us one of the major duties of an Officer. The duty is "be
responsible for every person in the community.” Brian takes this
responsibility very seriously, and impressed us all when he gave us his
concluding comments, “It’s all about others.”
Brian, welcome to our club.
Iao (shown
with Todd Lipka) was born in
Hawaii, her first name “Iao” comes from the name
of a Valley on
Maui. Her
grandparents originally immigrated to
Hawaii from
Japan, and
her father was a Buddhist who converted to Christianity and became a
minister.
After moving from
Hawaii to
Seattle as a
young girl and attending local schools through high school, she did her
undergraduate work and received her degree from UC Berkeley. She worked her
way through college as a research assistant. After Berkeley she spent two
years doing post-graduate work at the Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard University.
Iao wanted to work in public policy, so after Harvard, she moved to Los
Angeles on the advice of one of her Berkeley professors, who suggested the
RAND Corporation.
She remembers arriving in Los Angeles with $132
in her pocket, and interviewing with the human resources manager at RAND who
wanted to sign her up for a retirement plan. She declined because she
thought the longest she would be at RAND was a couple years, but 28 years
later she is still there and loves it. She especially enjoys the tremendous
intellectual environment, and the ability to work on stimulating projects.
She talked about major influences in her life, one of which is her
father. Whenever she needs inspiration she thinks about a sermon she heard
from her dad when she was a young girl. Her dad’s words of wisdom were:
“Prepare for the worst, expect the best, and take what comes with grace and
humor.”
Iao, welcome to our club.
