Janelle Miller Moravek

Executive Director

What do you do at our organization?

I've been at YFC for 20 years but since 2009, as Executive Director, I'm responsible for executing our strategic plan, for ensuring that everyone works at YFC is happy, and for being the holder of our culture. I also work with the Board of Directors and make sure that we have the funding and resources to do our great work, as well as maintaining our high standards of excellence in care and adherence to best practices. Outside of YFC, I advocate for us in community groups while keeping a sense of the pulse for what's going on in our county and the rest of the world so I know how that will impact us as an organization. This also helps me understand how we can fit in and be an effective organization.

And of course, there's all the day to day things like filing, shredding, making coffee, cleaning out offices, etc. because it's a small shop. What I love about working in a small shop is that I get to do a little bit of everything. I also love that no two days are the same at YFC. I'm always doing something different. It's so exciting.

What has been your favorite project or event so far?

By far, my favorite moments at YFC have been our board-staff planning retreats. Finding a path forward is so exciting. I love taking all of the input from the board and staff and develop consensus around where we are headed together. I love them--planning, facilitating, and doing the post-work. We've had some really fun ones.

At the start of the audio clip sequence on the left, Janelle discusses one of the most fun board-staff planning retreats that was held at the black box theatre at Improv Playhouse one year and why it's important to remember to have fun! Click it to listen!

What motivates you to continue each day?

I am a self-starter; a self-motivated, pretty resilient person so it's never been hard for me to find the motivation to get up and get started. But I will say that there are tougher days with tons of meetings that can make it challenging to schedule time for proper follow-up work. I think what gets me through that though is that I love the people and I learn from others every day. I love meeting with people, understanding them, and learning from them. I feel like it's my job to hold the framework, then let my colleagues do their great work with the resources that I've provided, in addition to the talent and experience that they bring to the table.

I learn the coolest things from my job and from the people that I work with!

What do you love about being a part of the YFC team? How would you describe YFC in a few words?

I think this comes back to what a lot of people love about YFC, which is opportunity to grow. Because YFC is a growing organization and it evolves, I'm always learning. Even if I learned budgeting in 2009 when I stepped into the role of Executive Director, I'm back into learning it again because we're in a different place than we were 12 years ago. We're a bigger organization and we have different tasks that we have to tend to as well as different rules we have to follow. So the opportunity to grow myself every year as the organization grows has been and continues to be very special to me.

What I also love about YFC...listen to Janelle discuss this at minute 1:00 of the audio clip on the left.

I love making my little corner of the world a better place. I can't change the world, but I do believe in the power of one person. Using my talents to change a little bit of the world is exciting. And I have incredibly supportive and talented people around me from the staff to the board to accomplish that.

YFC is truly a very caring place and I love our commitment to doing things the right way. You may not necessarily see it, but we do high quality work and we do things the right way and it shows up in our client outcomes. As an organization we aim to be upstanders not bystanders.

At minute 2:02 in the audio clips on the left, Janelle talks about how YFC did the right thing to maintain HIPAA compliance for the implementation of teletherapy as well as talent development for our team.

Where is your happy place?

My happy place is my living room! We have this awesome living room. My happy spot is sitting on the couch there. My kids will come sit and chat with me there, I listen to my daughters play the piano, I read my books there--everything. It's the space where people gather and connect in my family but it's also the place that I retreat to in the evenings when I need a little bit of quiet time.

But, this past winter we got cool gas logs for our fireplace in the family room, and that might be a close second!

What’s the last song you listened to?

It was probably a song that my daughter played on the piano. When I listen to the radio in the mornings, I like to listen to NPR rather than music because I love to hear about the current events and stories.

What’s your favorite must-see movie?

Princess Bride! It's a total must-see movie and I often quote it!! And my second choice would be The Sound of Music. It's always been one of my favorites.