In our Fun Fact Friday series we are featuring team members from MeetGreen so you can learn more about us!

Nancy Zavada
President, MeetGreen

What project are you currently working on?

We are finishing up a very busy event season, recertified as an ISO 20121 business and are now making plans for 2017. We have a few weeks off before January brings events in London and Vancouver BC. We have new products and resources nearly ready to launch. Stay tuned!

Why do you like your job?

I love my job because I go to work every day with an incredible group of professionals who are making a difference in this world. They are my inspiration. What could be better?

What accomplishment in life are you most proud of?

Starting a business as a single mother of two young children. The hours were long, but thanks to the early days of the internet, I was able to work at home while they were sleeping. Because failure was not an option, I learned how truly resilient we can all be. The work of planning sustainable, logistically complex events has always been (and continues to be) fascinating and fulfilling. As a founder of the Green Meeting Industry Council, I am elated the Convention Industry Council has enrolled GMIC to continue providing sustainable event education.

How do you give back to your community?

There are so many important issues facing us today and most of the time I seem to focus on activities that involve children. Often it is donating time and resources to organizations such as Schoolhouse Supplies, Oregon Food Bank (to help with child hunger) or to the Tillamook Women’s Resources Center to assist women and children who have been in abusive situations. Some days it is as simple as picking up garbage while taking a walk.

What do you do in your free time?

I love to collect and repurpose all sorts of thrift store and found treasures (ask anyone who works here). My background in tailoring helps me refashion thrift store clothes into trendy outfits. My other passion is photography and spending time on the Oregon Coast makes it easy to take beautiful photographs. As Ansel Adams said, “It seems I just step into the right places just when it’s time to click the shutter.”

What is on your bookshelf?

Traveling this fall I had time to read a lot of “brain candy”, my favorite term for less serious books, which included The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler, At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen, and Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. Up next I can’t wait to start The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben.