{"id":246436,"date":"2013-08-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-16T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/a-monumental-accomplishment\/"},"modified":"2013-08-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-16T07:00:00","slug":"a-monumental-accomplishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/a-monumental-accomplishment\/","title":{"rendered":"A monumental accomplishment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lisa Weir, a neighborhood and community advocate, moves on<\/p>\n

Por Morgan M. Hurley | Asistente de edici\u00f3n SDUN<\/p>\n

The Hillcrest Business Association (HBA) recently lost an important part of its staff, when Marketing + Communications Director Lisa Weir relocated to Oakland, Calif. last month.<\/p>\n

Weir, who had been with the nonprofit for nearly four years, was part of the organization\u2019s triad team of staff that also consisted of Executive Director Benjamin Nicholls and Sponsorship + Concessions Manager Cassandra Ramhap.<\/p>\n

Nicholls, who announced his future departure from the HBA at the organization\u2019s board meeting Tuesday, Aug. 13, credits Weir with establishing a consistent brand for the three-decades-old nonprofit. \u201cIt was new, yet familiar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Silver Springs, Md. native said she moved west in 2005 in search of what she called \u201cthe strongest graduate program in women\u2019s studies in the country\u201d at San Diego State University. There, she not only received her master\u2019s degree, but went on to become an adjunct lecturer for the department, teaching both women\u2019s and LGBT studies.<\/p>\n

\"Lisa<\/a>
Lisa Weir and her pug Beasley (Photo by My Dog Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Weir said she was able to parlay her teaching focus of social justice in terms of race, class, gender and sexuality into her other career as a marketing executive, helping nonprofits grasp not only the power behind their content but how to strengthen their message, design and presentation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be lecturing on the landscape of power, privilege and oppression in the media, and then emailing a press release, soliciting that same media, encouraging them to use their power of voice to cover a news piece on something happening in the nonprofit arena I was emerged in, all in the same day,\u201d Weir said. \u201cIt\u2019s this fluid world of possibility, connection and relationships that we\u2019re constantly moving through, in a way that is kind of messy, that inspired me.\u201d<\/p>\n

During Weir\u2019s time at the HBA, the organization was responsible for some huge changes within the Hillcrest community. A pride flag with its new historical monument added this year, the new block party and the growth of its farmers market are things she will always be proud of and able to hang her hat on, but she said she does not like being in the limelight. Instead, she said she appreciated the \u201csubversive, collaborative\u201d effort of her role.<\/p>\n

Nicholls said Weir worked hard to put together a \u201cdream team\u201d to meet the HBA\u2019s marketing goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe organized a team of store owners, restaurateurs and service providers, and with them created a consistent and well-supported neighborhood brand,\u201d he said, and gives Weir credit elsewhere as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the unique projects she\u2019ll be remembered for include the design of the LGBT historical monument at the base of the Hillcrest Pride Flag, the Hillcrest neighborhood map and [the] \u2018Your Guide to Fabulous\u2019 [publication],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Crest Cafe owner and HBA board member Cecelia Moreno also recognized Weir\u2019s contributions. Last month, Moreno surprised Weir with a personalized tile \u2013 in Weir and her partner\u2019s name \u2013 on the Hillcrest flag\u2019s base, where all the donors to the LGBT historical monument were identified. Weir called Moreno\u2019s donation the most generous gift she had ever received.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just stood back from life and saw how held I was, and felt how much infinite love there is swirling around us,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was such a perfect representation of honor and pride and such a fitting bookend to my time in Hillcrest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pride flag and the challenges the organization went through to see it through to fruition offers Weir yet another deep connection to this community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a \u2013 literally \u2013 monumental accomplishment, and what a symbolic representation of my time in San Diego. This city is where I came out to my parents who live back east, it\u2019s where I built the most supportive chosen family I could have ever imagined and it\u2019s where my heart flourished,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Weir called her time at the HBA \u201can incredibly full cup,\u201d filled with \u201cjoy, passion, connection and the art of the communities,\u201d where she continually pushed and tested herself.<\/p>\n

\"(l-r)<\/a>
(l-r) Cassandra Ramhap, Lisa Weir, Ron Baranov, Ben Nicholls, Michael Tactay and Johnathan Hale at the Orchids and Onions awards.(Courtesy HBA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cCommunity work is about a lot of things, and it\u2019s also about getting things done,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can strategize for decades in academia and be eloquently theoretical and I love that, [but] I love that in neighborhood work, you\u2019re accountable; you have to work hard at things that sometimes seem so vast and unattainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though her beloved Hillcrest community and Golden Hill home were both hard to leave, Weir, who was recently replaced at the HBA by Megan Gamwell, her intern of six months, was able to justify her departure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived in San Diego \u2026 just long enough for one to absolutely fall in love with Southern California, and also just long enough to give yourself permission to leave,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Weir said she has dreamed of spending her 30s in Northern California, but it was her partner Lauren who kicked that dream into reality when she was accepted into a graduate program for social work in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so excited about the energy in the Bay Area, the change-makers here, and the spiritual connections I\u2019ve already made to the city and the people,\u201d Weir said.<\/p>\n

She and Lauren were best friends for five years, standing on the sidelines of each other\u2019s relationships and offering support when needed, until realizing they had peeled back enough layers over those years together to find a perfect fit with each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe transgressed the friendship boundary and our light together just threw us into this incredibly loving, supportive and inspirational relationship to be our best selves, independently and together,\u201d Weir said.<\/p>\n

The couple plans to make their domestic partnership a marriage when Lauren is finished with her graduate work, but in the meantime, they are settling into their new digs with their dog Beasley.<\/p>\n

Weir still has a toe dipped into the San Diego community, helping a local \u201csocial change-making\u201d organization with their branding transition, while she continues to get her feet wet in Oakland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping that this new move and transitional consulting work gives me the space to set peaceful intentions for my next season,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to build a life up here and build family with my wife. It\u2019s important that I slow down right now and take it all in.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lisa Weir, a neighborhood and community advocate, moves on By Morgan M. Hurley | SDUN Assistant Editor The Hillcrest Business Association (HBA) recently lost an important part of its staff, when Marketing + Communications Director Lisa Weir relocated to Oakland, Calif. last month.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":246437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"A monumental accomplishment","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}