July 9, 2007
Youth movement | A conversation with 23-year-old Kelsey Jewell, the new executive director of the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce
By Kerry Elson
You couldn't find a better advocate for western Maine than 23-year-old Kelsey Jewell, the new executive director of the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce in South Paris. Jewell, who started the job after graduating in May from the University of Southern Maine, grew up in South Paris and has deep roots in the region, which includes 11 towns in Oxford County. Generations back, she says, her family mined the hills for tourmaline.
Jewell may be young, but she's held leadership positions before. From 2002 to 2006, she worked for Seeds of Peace, a summer camp in Otisfield for Israeli and Palestinian teens, eventually taking a year off from USM to serve as director of programming and deputy director at the camp's operations in Israel. Her job included writing grants and managing programs for campers in their home countries.
Jewell's enthusiasm and experience in nonprofit management made her a good candidate for the position at the Oxford Hills Chamber, says Dana Chandler, chair of the chamber's board of directors and owner of Weston-Chandler Funeral Homes in Norway. When former executive director Rich Livingston resigned from the post in January 2007, Chandler says, the chamber's 16-member board and two employees were taken by surprise. They spent the next two months working to find someone who would rejuvenate the organization and boost the chamber's membership, which currently includes 300 businesses.
Mainebiz recently spoke to Jewell about her role at the chamber, economic development in Western Maine and why she can't stand the term "brain drain." The following is an edited transcript.
How's your new job?
It's been going well. There were some challenges at the beginning, which is part of the reason they hired me. I'm energetic and a troubleshooter and a motivator. The organization for a while has lacked leadership and previous to that was in a bit of a rut identity-wise, so I'm working really hard with community members to re-align the chamber's activities with its mission and vision.
What about the position interested you?
I'm originally from the Oxford Hills area and it's always been very important to me to give back to my community. I feel strongly about protecting the livelihood of the folks who live and work and play in this region. There are lots of assets that we have here that aren't always capitalized on to the fullest extent. And the work in nonprofit administration has always compelled me and I thought this was a great fit of my two interests.
Did you consider working out of state? Are you as concerned as others seem to be about a "brain drain" trend?
Well, I've definitely explored all my options and I have colleagues from my work at Seeds of Peace who offered me positions out of state and internationally. But I actually always get a little bit offended ˆ and don't take this personally ˆ when somebody uses the term "brain drain." One of our board members said something really appropriate the other day. She said, "Using the term 'brain drain' makes those of us who stayed here feel stupid."
There are so many talented, dynamic young folks ˆ and old folks ˆ who have decided to stay in Maine for the really important reasons. It's a wonderful place to work and it's a great community. So it was a conscious effort for me to stay in Maine and it was one of the biggest draws to take this position. And here in Oxford Hills we have an initiative we've just started to help solidify the young professionals here who don't always take ownership of the place where they live and work.
What is the name of the group?
Of all the things that the group works on, the name has been the most contentious issue. We don't have a name yet. I have a personal favorite that I won't disclose. Stay tuned. But we're launching the project hopefully by the end of the summer. We're modeling our group on the Realize!Maine initiative.
What are some strengths of the area that you could capitalize on?
Well, the area is a wonderful day trip from other parts of the state, and we have a wealth of resources in terms of mineralogy. We're trying to do a lot better job of marketing that to folks in the region. We have a circuit of antique shops and art galleries and public gardens. We also have some great performing art centers. And then we have a myriad of farms and natural food producers and retailers. There are wonderful, small manufacturing businesses, [such as] Maine Balsam Fir, which supplies products to L.L.Bean. We're really a vibrant mecca of a lot of what Maine stands for.
How can the local business community capitalize on those strengths?
We have to be better about marketing ourselves. Part of the reason we love living here [is that] we're uninterrupted country. We haven't had the tourist boom yet, so people still know everyone's names and it's still pretty easy to get around in the summer, traffic-wise. But folks are realizing that in order to sustain themselves, they need day-trippers. So we're looking to have folks come from inside the state and from eastern New Hampshire for one-, two- and three-day excursions.
One of the things that we're working on is creating an articulated one-, two- or three-day itinerary for folks that can be accessed either via the Web or through our information center. So if you have a particular interest, whether that be antiquing or garden-viewing or bird-watching, there's an itinerary catered to your trip. So the tough part of figuring out what to do and when to do it is all taken care of.
Tell me about some of the other ideas you have for the chamber.
One of the projects we're working on is an incentive for folks who live here already to shop locally, so we're starting a buy-local campaign, which encourages us to use storefronts here rather than traveling elsewhere to buy products or services. Part of that is a testimonial campaign that will be run through print media. The other part of it is the implementation of a gift certificate program, which will encourage folks to buy a gift certificate here at the chamber that can be used at any participating chamber member location. Then the chamber will reimburse the location. We're hoping to launch that at the end of the summer in preparation for the Christmas season.
What have you noticed about the business climate in western Maine as a whole?
I read a newspaper article recently about how Maine has one of the highest percentages of entrepreneurial endeavors in the country. And western Maine is successful in that vein. The community is still pretty tight-knit, so when somebody has a start-up, the community supports the effort.
Can you share an example of that support?
There's a brand new start-up that I'm really excited about called Western Maine Mineral Adventures. They are capitalizing on the mineral and gem history of the region, inviting the public into the mine locations for hour-long [or] day-long trips either for education or for pure enjoyment. And so they have tours of the Mount Mica mine, and other mines in the area that they bring folks to. [For more on this, see "Money pit," on page 24.] They have anything as straightforward as teaching children how to sift through soil using screens to actually training folks to be mineralogists.
How has that company received community support?
This is a silly example, but like lots of the rest of Maine, we had a wet spring here. It was really rainy. And so the efforts by Western Maine Mineral Adventures to cement their spot at the base of a mine was delayed because of Mother Nature's wrath. The site visit for the permit was delayed. One of the local business owners runs a hotel and has a parcel of property adjacent to his location, in West Paris. So he donated the use of the land to [Western Maine Mineral Adventures] for the summer so they could run their operation there until they got a more permanent spot.
What do you think are the benefits and the challenges of being young in a leadership role?
I certainly acknowledge my age, but every time I've been asked, "So how old are you, anyway?" or "Oh, so you're pretty young, aren't you?" I say, "Oh, how old are you?" and, "Oh, you're pretty old, aren't you?" One of the wonderful things about my position is that I am charged with bringing people together, so I don't need to be an expert in every single topic in order to affect change. I'm very energetic and aware of the challenges and advantages of doing business within this community and I know a lot of players.
I don't anticipate perfection but I anticipate lots of collaboration. So I think being young has its downside in terms of I'm not immediately trusted or immediately legitimized, but folks have been won over pretty quickly and realized that I'm full of energy.
Jewell may be young, but she's held leadership positions before. From 2002 to 2006, she worked for Seeds of Peace, a summer camp in Otisfield for Israeli and Palestinian teens, eventually taking a year off from USM to serve as director of programming and deputy director at the camp's operations in Israel. Her job included writing grants and managing programs for campers in their home countries.
Jewell's enthusiasm and experience in nonprofit management made her a good candidate for the position at the Oxford Hills Chamber, says Dana Chandler, chair of the chamber's board of directors and owner of Weston-Chandler Funeral Homes in Norway. When former executive director Rich Livingston resigned from the post in January 2007, Chandler says, the chamber's 16-member board and two employees were taken by surprise. They spent the next two months working to find someone who would rejuvenate the organization and boost the chamber's membership, which currently includes 300 businesses.
Mainebiz recently spoke to Jewell about her role at the chamber, economic development in Western Maine and why she can't stand the term "brain drain." The following is an edited transcript.
How's your new job?
It's been going well. There were some challenges at the beginning, which is part of the reason they hired me. I'm energetic and a troubleshooter and a motivator. The organization for a while has lacked leadership and previous to that was in a bit of a rut identity-wise, so I'm working really hard with community members to re-align the chamber's activities with its mission and vision.
What about the position interested you?
I'm originally from the Oxford Hills area and it's always been very important to me to give back to my community. I feel strongly about protecting the livelihood of the folks who live and work and play in this region. There are lots of assets that we have here that aren't always capitalized on to the fullest extent. And the work in nonprofit administration has always compelled me and I thought this was a great fit of my two interests.
Did you consider working out of state? Are you as concerned as others seem to be about a "brain drain" trend?
Well, I've definitely explored all my options and I have colleagues from my work at Seeds of Peace who offered me positions out of state and internationally. But I actually always get a little bit offended ˆ and don't take this personally ˆ when somebody uses the term "brain drain." One of our board members said something really appropriate the other day. She said, "Using the term 'brain drain' makes those of us who stayed here feel stupid."
There are so many talented, dynamic young folks ˆ and old folks ˆ who have decided to stay in Maine for the really important reasons. It's a wonderful place to work and it's a great community. So it was a conscious effort for me to stay in Maine and it was one of the biggest draws to take this position. And here in Oxford Hills we have an initiative we've just started to help solidify the young professionals here who don't always take ownership of the place where they live and work.
What is the name of the group?
Of all the things that the group works on, the name has been the most contentious issue. We don't have a name yet. I have a personal favorite that I won't disclose. Stay tuned. But we're launching the project hopefully by the end of the summer. We're modeling our group on the Realize!Maine initiative.
What are some strengths of the area that you could capitalize on?
Well, the area is a wonderful day trip from other parts of the state, and we have a wealth of resources in terms of mineralogy. We're trying to do a lot better job of marketing that to folks in the region. We have a circuit of antique shops and art galleries and public gardens. We also have some great performing art centers. And then we have a myriad of farms and natural food producers and retailers. There are wonderful, small manufacturing businesses, [such as] Maine Balsam Fir, which supplies products to L.L.Bean. We're really a vibrant mecca of a lot of what Maine stands for.
How can the local business community capitalize on those strengths?
We have to be better about marketing ourselves. Part of the reason we love living here [is that] we're uninterrupted country. We haven't had the tourist boom yet, so people still know everyone's names and it's still pretty easy to get around in the summer, traffic-wise. But folks are realizing that in order to sustain themselves, they need day-trippers. So we're looking to have folks come from inside the state and from eastern New Hampshire for one-, two- and three-day excursions.
One of the things that we're working on is creating an articulated one-, two- or three-day itinerary for folks that can be accessed either via the Web or through our information center. So if you have a particular interest, whether that be antiquing or garden-viewing or bird-watching, there's an itinerary catered to your trip. So the tough part of figuring out what to do and when to do it is all taken care of.
Tell me about some of the other ideas you have for the chamber.
One of the projects we're working on is an incentive for folks who live here already to shop locally, so we're starting a buy-local campaign, which encourages us to use storefronts here rather than traveling elsewhere to buy products or services. Part of that is a testimonial campaign that will be run through print media. The other part of it is the implementation of a gift certificate program, which will encourage folks to buy a gift certificate here at the chamber that can be used at any participating chamber member location. Then the chamber will reimburse the location. We're hoping to launch that at the end of the summer in preparation for the Christmas season.
What have you noticed about the business climate in western Maine as a whole?
I read a newspaper article recently about how Maine has one of the highest percentages of entrepreneurial endeavors in the country. And western Maine is successful in that vein. The community is still pretty tight-knit, so when somebody has a start-up, the community supports the effort.
Can you share an example of that support?
There's a brand new start-up that I'm really excited about called Western Maine Mineral Adventures. They are capitalizing on the mineral and gem history of the region, inviting the public into the mine locations for hour-long [or] day-long trips either for education or for pure enjoyment. And so they have tours of the Mount Mica mine, and other mines in the area that they bring folks to. [For more on this, see "Money pit," on page 24.] They have anything as straightforward as teaching children how to sift through soil using screens to actually training folks to be mineralogists.
How has that company received community support?
This is a silly example, but like lots of the rest of Maine, we had a wet spring here. It was really rainy. And so the efforts by Western Maine Mineral Adventures to cement their spot at the base of a mine was delayed because of Mother Nature's wrath. The site visit for the permit was delayed. One of the local business owners runs a hotel and has a parcel of property adjacent to his location, in West Paris. So he donated the use of the land to [Western Maine Mineral Adventures] for the summer so they could run their operation there until they got a more permanent spot.
What do you think are the benefits and the challenges of being young in a leadership role?
I certainly acknowledge my age, but every time I've been asked, "So how old are you, anyway?" or "Oh, so you're pretty young, aren't you?" I say, "Oh, how old are you?" and, "Oh, you're pretty old, aren't you?" One of the wonderful things about my position is that I am charged with bringing people together, so I don't need to be an expert in every single topic in order to affect change. I'm very energetic and aware of the challenges and advantages of doing business within this community and I know a lot of players.
I don't anticipate perfection but I anticipate lots of collaboration. So I think being young has its downside in terms of I'm not immediately trusted or immediately legitimized, but folks have been won over pretty quickly and realized that I'm full of energy.
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