Director of Writespace Stepping Off Staff to Work on Reducing Flooding in Houston

By Elizabeth White-Olsen

Elizabeth was just as smitten with Writespace in 2016 as she is today.

Dear Writespace Community Member,

Beginning March 16th, I will no longer work for Writespace. This is a hard sentence for me to write, because I love Writespace with my whole heart. Why, then, am I leaving Writespace staff to do something else?

1. Writespace has outgrown its founder, and this is great news. My special passion is launching new ideas that make a difference. The past five years, I have fulfilled this passion with Writespace. Our staff, board, instructors, and volunteers have done an amazing job of meeting writers’ needs, and Writespace literary arts center has grown quickly. As Writespace’s founder, my job has been to create an organization so viable that it can stand on its own. Happily, we have reached this point. Writespace is in excellent hands with the Writespace board, with Cassandra Clarke, Director of Operations and Acting Executive Director, and with the robust band of dedicated volunteers who love and support our organization. I greatly look forward to continuing to be excited by Writespace’s wonderful progress. 
2. I am being called to launch other new endeavors. Founding Writespace has taught me that helping launch new nonprofit endeavors may be what I want to do with my life. Even though founding Writespace was never easy, I loved the wild, open energy that zinged through my every thought, every word, and every action during the early days of Writespace in 2014. I miss the extreme-sport adrenaline rush of those days when I didn’t know where our next check would come from to cover the rent, but believing with my whole heart that God would send it our way. I miss watching what I had dreamed come true right before my very eyes. I believe my love for that crazy, exciting time is what has led me to my next step, Bayou City Initiative.
3. Houston needs me—and each one of us—to work to help reduce its flooding problem. Many of you know I was deeply traumatized by our evacuation and  displacement during Harvey. As I watched neighbors wade through contaminated floodwaters with their only remaining possessions, I was torn by the question, “What can I do?” I didn’t know this would be a question I wouldn’t be able to shake off after the storm, one that would determine the course of my life after the storm, but Harvey changed me. This past fall I learned of a nonprofit named Bayou City Initiative and began volunteering with them. Founded shortly after Harvey by environmental lawyer Jim Blackburn, co-founder of the Rice University SSPEED Center (Severe Storm Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disaster Center), Bayou City Initiative is dedicated to building a flood-resilient Houston. Volunteering—and now working part-time for BCI—presented a healthy answer to the question “What can I do?” and helped assuage the feeling of utter helplessness that has assaulted me since Harvey.

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Writespace's mama puts up the new sign in 2014.

My departure is extremely amicable, but not easy. Those of us who work hard behind the scenes work closely together, and we have come to love and trust one another. We will miss working together. Our board, staff, and volunteers have been extremely understanding of this profound turn in my life, and I appreciate their support. Writespace has been my first true work home, the place where my heart and soul have belonged. I will miss the sense of community most of all, the sense of shared purpose in supporting writers and their work. But I know this step is the right one both for me and for Writespace. Definitely not the easy step, but the right one.

Birthing Writespace has by far comprised the greatest work of my life. Amongst the many gifts Writespace has brought me—the amazing friendships, the lessons in leadership, the realization of what a difference a tiny band of committed individuals can make—the knowledge that I could die now and feel like I’ve done something awesome with my life has been Writespace’s greatest gift.

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The founder of Writespace in May 2014, before Writespace had tables. Thanks for filling these writing chairs the past five years.

What next?
Writespace's board, staff, and volunteers have been discussing this transition since mid-January and working hard to develop a plan to keep things running smoothly. My last day at Writespace will be March 15th, and Cassandra Clarke will become Writespace’s Director of Operations and acting Executive Director. 

At some point—say, one or two years from now, I may return to serve as a Writespace instructor, editor, or volunteer, but over this next year, I will be focusing on pursuing my passion for keeping as many future Houstonians as possible safe from floods.
 
I’m signing off. Thank you for the crazy honor of serving you, Dear Writer. Thank you for the privilege of playing a part in creating a writing home for you, a place where you and your stories can grow. I look forward to continuing to watch your writing career and our writing home, Writespace, flourish.

Love,
​Elizabeth White-Olsen, Founder of Writespace

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