2.19.14 The Honor of Knowing Priscilla Otani

To honor Priscilla Otani fully for her commitment to the Women's Caucus for Art - national, international and chapter levels, for her earnest mentoring of women, for her passion for global issues, for supporting artists with San Francisco-based ARC gallery, in which she and her husband Michael are partners and, and… is daunting. Her sharing of her intelligence, experience and business perspectives have reach so many and on many levels. Monday's national WCA board meeting was her last as reigning (yes, Karen and I gave her a crown) president. This was a very challenging year for WCA and some, in her new position as past-president, may choose to sit back and rest. Yesterday, she was excitedly talking about getting into her new additional role as interim treasurer and about her part in our Half the Sky delegation to China in April.

My connection with Priscilla began when I crashed a WCA meeting in NYC a few years ago in order to find out more about this art & activism organization. As soon as Priscilla began talking about her then-role with the WCA international committee and the WCA's NGO status with the UN, I was hooked - not just by the possibilities, but by her. Since then she has generously spent countless hours encouraging and mentoring me - convincing me to go to Bonn, Germany for the UN DPI/NGO Conference on Sustainability, at which we decided to push WCA's international focus beyond the UN to other global collaborations and then making it enticing for me to be the leader of this effort. Who knew two years ago, that I would be developing projects in South Korea and China? Certainly, not me. And mine is just one example of how Priscilla invests herself, her time, her heart into the women around her.

Priscilla is the kind of leader who makes volunteer-run organizations, such as WCA, stay effective. It is not just the number of hours she gave to make WCA work last year as she ran a board with key positions unfilled, but the priority she places on assisting her colleagues and the younger women coming into WCA as they define and expand their career paths and passions.

As one of those who has benefited greatly by her immense generosity, I want you to know, Priscilla, that I am a better person from knowing you and am forever grateful.