ANNIE Mackin
Favorite Part of Job: I love my job because there's something new and complicated to learn every day, so I'm constantly challenged. Luckily, I work with people who are very patient in letting me learn. And the work I am able to contribute toward - reforming our health care system so that it's more affordable and accessible for Vermonters - really matters.
Tell us something fun about yourself that few people know: I can show you every covered bridge in Franklin County!
Favorite Vermont Escape: Skiing at Jay and stopping alone in the woods to take in the quiet and the cold air; floating on Lake Champlain at my parents' house in Alburgh; anywhere I can run.
Favorite downtime activity: Running and reading.
Favorite Social Media: Twitter - I need a constant flow of information.
Person you would like to share a Vermont beverage with: My twin sister, Caroline - because it would mean she's home from Chicago!
What is the best career advice you have received? Best advice I ever got, career or otherwise, was from a cab driver I had hailed after a frustrating day at a dead-end job I hated: "I am above the ground, so today is a good day." Worst advice: "Just pound the pavement and network all day" (that person never had to pay their own rent).
Where do you see yourself professionally in ten years? I will still be in communications, hopefully working in a leadership role with a group or person who is driving the state or national conversation to make things better for women and the natural environment. I will be running one marathon a year and tending a huge, beautiful garden full of food.
Community Involvement:
Hudak Farm, St. Albans
-Every 2-3 weekends, spend the day working on local produce farm in St. Albans – Picking vegetables, preparing produce for sale and working in the farm stand.
Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club
-Member at large on executive committee for state chapter of the nation’s oldest and largest environmental advocacy organization, working to clean up Lake Champlain and all of Vermont’s waters. As co-chair of the water committee, pushed the group to focus on water quality this year and dedicate a considerable sum of chapter funding to hiring professional advocates for the wider community. This contributed directly to the passage of Act 64.
-Write, edit, design and manage the group’s newly reestablished e-newsletter by working with the national organization.
Vermont Democratic Party
-Wrote blog posts, edited the work of college interns, and made phone calls inviting people around the state to local events to build engagement, as well as setting
up and staffing party events with our U.S. delegation and state officials.
Locally in, I try to be an active member of my congregation at
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, St. Albans
-Staffed the annual Turkey Supper
