Katherine So Dachtler Log 1

This is all as wild as you can imagine. Not only have you been accepted into the 2024 Fellow cohort, but you have been granted the opportunity to use $100,000 on investing specifically in you. It’s okay to feel excited and overwhelmed, it’s okay to feel shell shocked, it’s okay to be proud and edified in the work that you have done that brought you here. AND it’s okay to not know everything you want to do. It’s okay to question whether this money really can send you on an international trip or allow you quality time with your family without counting every penny. It’s okay to spend it on a degree that you would have never dreamed could be reality or to use it to prioritize your well-being and health, that for so many community builders is put off until “later.” It’s also okay to have a complete plan spreadsheet-ed out and directives that you know are going to build you even more into who you are meant to be. As a new Fellow, you are joining a motley group of make-it-workers, who believe in justice and equitable opportunities, who pour their love of people into communities of belonging. And we are so excited you are here.

I think the best piece of advice I received during my application process was to question what could invest and grow me into an even truer presentation of myself. To challenge myself to push past the knee-jerk reaction to produce a deliverable, and sit in the oft-neglected space of just being. This fellowship has allowed me to grow my knowledge in a tangible way through the University of Central Arkansas’ Ph.D. in Change Leadership for Equity and Inclusion program, University of Minnesota’s Permanency and Adoption Competency Certificate, and Alliance of Therapy Dog’s animal assisted therapy certification. It has supported me in restful renewal physically and emotionally through trips and activities with my family. And has allowed me to continue exploring and healing as a BIPOC female former elected official and as a Transracial Adoptee. While this may not sound like just “being,” what I have accomplished to date has poured back into me in ways I couldn’t have anticipated. And this is just year one.