Having only lived in Virginia four years, one of my goals for participating in VALOR is to help Virginia feel more like home. Visiting Richmond and Seminar III took a huge step in that direction! Touring the capitol, meeting elected officials and participating in the Virginia Agribusiness Council annual dinner - and knowing more people… Continue reading Home sweet home
As I was finally finishing this blog entry on the threshold of another fast approaching VALOR engagement, I discovered that today is National Ag Day as designated by the Agriculture Council of America. According to their website, today we should all be encouraged to: Understand how food and fiber products are produced Appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe,… Continue reading Happy National Ag Day
The VALOR trip to Richmond was extremely informative in so many ways. I enjoyed learning more about the legislative process, Farm Bureau's lobbying efforts, and the Myers-Briggs assessment. As always, the opportunity to review my preferences and how they contribute to my professional and personal relationships was helpful in so many ways. I found… Continue reading Lights, camera, action.
My last post I gave a Top Ten list of things learned/gained from Seminar II. The number one being: "...blogging needs to be done asap." Here I am less than week out from Seminar IV and I'm just now posting about Seminar III. Really there's no good excuse for procrastination. In high school I had… Continue reading Leaving Procrastination Station
Advocacy, advocacy, advocacy! That's the name of the game for me, particularly during the first part of the year when the General Assembly is in session. This was the case during our time in Richmond, so I wore both my VALOR hat and my state lobbyist hat. A couple of takeaways from this double duty:You… Continue reading I’m Just a Bill
itYAHfaot I had every, and I mean every intention on not really mentioning or addressing racial issues with our last VALOR expedition in January. Whelp.. I tried. In the great words of Scarface.. "..everytime I think I'm out they pull me back in." Now for the elephant in the room/commonwealth. February 1st or 2nd the… Continue reading The Elephant in the Commonwealth
itYAHfaot I’m writing this from somewhere in West Africa. The ocean obviously helps me create longer run on sentences. I needed to be away to write a blog to describe our Richmond session of VALOR. The session in its time and season was great. I told myself I’m not going to write about any racial… Continue reading The VALOR of Richmond
I can’t believe it is already March…it seems like our VALOR seminar in Richmond was just a couple days ago. Richmond was a great experience. It was awesome to be there at the beginning of session and see how things work. Admittedly, I was not well-versed in state lawmaking, so it was a very informative… Continue reading VALOR Seminar- Richmond
As someone who was not terribly knowledgeable about lobbying, our session entitled “Truth in Lobbying” with Andrew Smith coupled with prior engaging discussions with Mike Aulgur and Stephanie Kitchen helped me to better understand the key role lobbyists play. For instance, those attached to the Virginia Farm Bureau play an important role in helping farmers… Continue reading Lobbying 101
Our January seminar in Richmond featured numerous highlights. Meeting Virginia’s Ag Secretary Bettina Ring and her staff ranked at the very top. Our meeting with Secretary Ring was the first we had with a government official. Virginia agriculture is in great hands with her experience, leadership and team. Secretary Ring graduated from Virginia Tech with… Continue reading Meeting with VA Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Bettina Ring
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