Message From Outgoing President Mary Mihevic


 

 

 by Mary Mihevic

 

 


A little bit about me: I'm Mary, I'm 46, and from Cleveland, OH. I have been involved in social work for over 25 years, and most recently worked in a role, via a national grant, to change outcomes for LGBTQiA+ youth that have been touched by the child welfare system.

I've been a member of this group since 2004, back when it was an email circle and Yahoo Group.  After being a wallflower for a long time, I attended my first conference in Cincinnati in 2015, and became convinced of how important it is to meet and make lasting connections with others that have intersex traits.

I immediately began volunteering for the Welcome Committee; and a year later ended up serving in the role of Communications Coordinator from October of 2016 through 2018.  I was involved with the planning and facilitating our conferences in Phoenix, Chicago, and Little Rock.  I joined our Board of Directors in 2018, and in 2019, at Little Rock, I was approached by folks suggesting that I run for the President role.  I wasn't exactly sure that it was something that I wanted to do, but I love this group and felt that it was my responsibility to make sure we had stability during transitional times.  So after some consideration, I opted to run.

I hope that I have served this community well.  My goal was to provide more transparency to members, to solidify/move through our name change/re-branding and also to ensure that we do better at providing options and opportunity for real interaction/routine interpersonal support.  Making a better effort at hosting routine support group sessions has been a need for a long time, and I think we've made some great effort in providing that.

I love this group and our membership. Over the years, I've personally heard many members say that this group saved them. I know it saved me.

I will be taking a break from the board and from being so closely involved, but will gladly still remain connected, and a volunteer for the Steering Committee.

Thanks for this opportunity to serve and to help shape things!  We've had a great board during my presidency and I share ALL of our accomplishments over the past two years with my amazing and tireless team of folks on the board!  Collaboration, space for ideas, flexibility, and autonomy in making direct impact have been key to moving through the past two years.

See you all on down the road, and hopefully in person at our upcoming conference in Niagara Falls, 2022!

 

-Mary Mihevic, Outgoing InterConnect Board President

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