Women We Love: Kerry Day

It’s a good thing that Kerry Day looks good in hats because as executive director of The Women’s Initiative she has to wear many of them.

“As with any executive director of a relatively young nonprofit, I wear many hats, so it is difficult—if not impossible—to a name a ‘typical’ day for me,” Day says. “My hours are filled with advocacy, researching, fundraising, strategic planning, steering the ship and more.“

Day feels blessed to do what she does, despite the challenge faced by the nonprofit to “secure enough funding to keep up with the community need.”

“At The Women’s Initiative, each day also serves as a vivid reminder of the power of human transformation,” Day says. “When women come to us in search of counseling services, their lives are often terribly broken, and yet they have the strength to turn inward, pick up the pieces and rebuild. Witnessing this transformation is an honor and a blessing.”

The Women’s Initiative in Downtown Charlottesville offers counseling services, education opportunities and social groups for the women in our area—regardless of their ability to pay. “Our individual counseling program and our community outreach efforts are opening up the doors of health and wellness to hundreds upon hundreds of uninsured and underinsured women in our community,” she says. “We need more funding to ensure that we have adequate capacity to respond to the increasing demand for affordable mental health services.”

Day notes the growth of the programs offered at The Women’s Initiative is one of her most rewarding professional experiences. “The tapestry of women currently involved with The Women’s Initiative is nothing short of amazing,” Day says. “We have grown from a clinical staff of two therapists to a team of 16. We have nearly 90 volunteers involved with our agency. And our services now include bilingual counseling and psychiatric services, as well. We truly believe that when women care for themselves they become powerful role models for their families, their neighbors and our community.”

With such a heavy workload, on top of being a wife to David and mom to Carmen, 10, Juliet, 8, and Indigo, 6, Day strives for balance in her life. “I don’t think I’ve fully figured out that secret just yet. I find balance in all her glory, to be rather elusive,” she says. “It’s a state of existence, which I tend to stumble into and out of, depending on the moment. I try to find space in every day for stillness. I hug my children endlessly. I practice yoga for clarity of body and mind. I laugh with my husband while the rest of the world is sleeping. And I write.”

Day often thinks back on some of the best career advice she ever received. “When I was 24, I was the marking director of an architectural firm. I was fairly consumed by the demands of my position and worked too many hours. One night, when I had returned to the office at midnight to work on a proposal, I found a note from TJ, the office gopher, on my computer screen. It read: ‘This is only the sideshow.’ Wise words indeed.”

For those considering a post in the nonprofit sector, Day offers this advice: “Be prepared to work with ardent, passionate people. Be prepared to feel hope and pain with equal intensity.”

8 Things You Might Not Know About Kerry Day

1.  Who is your favorite author and why? Poet Rainier Marie Rilke, because of all things unnamable. And Gabriel Garcia Marquez, because we would all do well to venture into the fantastic.

2.  What is your favorite thing about Charlottesville? The scale, the eclectic blend of people and the accessibility to mountains and sea.

3.  What is your favorite hobby/pastime? Ashtanga yoga and night dreaming.

4.  What is one of your hidden talents/skills? Dancing. I love to dance.

5.  What is your guilty pleasure? Travel (and body massages, especially if the two are combined). Travel heightens my senses and makes me dig deep. When I grow up, I want to travel all over the world; small villages, remote islands, sacred deserts, vibrant cities, quiet rivers, malachite forests. I want to share stories in foreign languages and eat soul-quenching food.

6.  What is your favorite movie and why? Probably Moulin Rouge—because I’m a hopeless romantic.

7.  Where did you grow up? Overland Park, Kansas.