Chamber director that does it all learns to balance work, life

Michelle Redlinger’s line of work is demanding, to say the least.

As the head of the Washington Chamber of Commerce, she’s tasked with organizing events, grilling prospective lawmakers at candidate forums, writing weekly newsletters, coordinating community promotion efforts, connecting locals with business resources, and any number of other things. She’s also heavily involved in town as a volunteer, and a member of the city’s hotel/motel tax committee.

The diverse demands on her time are not a downside, but a perk of the job, in her mind.

“I love working for the community, and I love that there is no day that is ever the same,” she said. “I get the chance to be serious and advocate for business or help provide information … but on other days we get to have parades and dress up as a clown or a hot dog.”

While she’s quite happy in the role, she didn’t exactly sign up for the job when she started it over a decade ago.

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Redlinger grew up in Washington, where she was unsurprisingly involved in every activity possible, from band to dance to art club to yearbook editing. After graduation, she spent a few years away from her hometown for college, landing jobs at a few startups in Seattle, and later spending a year backpacking around the world, time she used to figure out her own identity, outside the context of small-town Iowa.

She would eventually return, moving back to live closer to family. By October of 2011, she was hired by the chamber to help with marketing. But in 2012, the following year, Redlinger was suddenly named the organization’s interim director following her predecessor’s departure.

She was a natural fit.

“I think I was young and naive enough to not be super scared, I think that was a blessing,” Redlinger said. “To be honest, I would say I’m a little more terrified now. Since I’ve been doing it for 13 years, knowing that there are still so many projects that I want to accomplish, I still never leave the day feeling like I got the stuff done that I had hoped for.”

That’s not to say things were easy when Redlinger took the reins. The Chamber was in dire straights financially, at the time, and she opted not to cash her own paychecks for the first several months in an effort to stabilize the budget amid the recent recession.

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“I did that to make sure our other bills were getting paid, and because I had the confidence that we were going to build back up,” she said. “I was living with my sister, I didn’t have a lot of expenses, I didn’t have anyone to feed at that point. I couldn’t do the same thing now, but at that point, I was young and hungry and I liked a challenge. And I knew I was fighting for something that was good, and would not just benefit me but it would benefit the whole community.”

The chamber’s situation has improved markedly since then. It now keeps enough cash on hand to continue operations for a year, even if all its revenue somehow disappeared overnight. In the meantime, Redlinger has played a major part in reviving Washington’s annual Ridiculous Days town festival, spearheaded community involvement in a competition that won it a mural, and elevated its two yearly craft fairs to massive events that draw vendors from hours away.

Lately, Redlinger’s greatest challenges don’t come from the office.

Work-life separation can be difficult, for someone so involved in the community. Redlinger has adapted by setting firm time limits on her day: she typically clocks in around 5 a.m., and heads out the door by 3 p.m., doing her best to leave life at home and work at the office.

It’s admittedly not a system she enjoys, and it often forces her to leave projects unfinished. But she said it was essential to maintain balance between the competing demands on her time.

“I made the choice not to put my kids in day care, so I have a hard stop, I have to get my kids at 3 p.m. otherwise they’re going to be crying outside of school,” she said. “I just have to set boundaries, because when your position is community service or community involvement, there’s never an end to it. I try to find things that I have to carve out and protect.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com