Meet the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival’s
First-Ever Executive Director
World-traveler, committed, multilingual, cross cultural, egalitarian, passionate, visionary, conscientious, creative…all are words that describe Alisa Zimmerman, who joined the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival (CDBF) in December as the organization’s first-ever Executive Director. We recently sat down with this seasoned professional to find out more about her personally and professionally as well as her vision for the CDBF.
Q: Where are you originally from, and how did your family come to reside in East and Southeast Asia?
Alisa: I was born in my mother’s home state of Pennsylvania; a gesture to satisfy my grandparents, although our stay there didn’t last long. I was the second of four girls and the only one born in the United States.
My parents were missionaries who started working overseas in the ‘50s. They moved across East and Southeast Asia setting up choral and music education programs in schools and churches. My three sisters were born in Malaysia and from there we moved to Indonesia. We then came back to the States, living in Oklahoma City and Denver, before my father was offered a position as Head of the Sacred Music Department at a university in Taiwan. From there, my parents went on to work and live in Singapore, a place we visited often.
Q: What were some of your experiences being raised overseas?
Alisa: Growing up was like living in a mini United Nations. We lived in diverse neighborhoods and had friends from all over the world. Since we spoke so many different languages with other kids, we made up our own so we could communicate. It was my first exposure to different cultures, food, customs and clothes. The experience truly broadened my horizons.
I attended high school in Taiwan, following a brief stint in Denver. This period of my childhood had the biggest impact on me providing the best memories. I went to a school in the midst of rice patties, along with Asians, Canadians, Americans and Europeans. We celebrated many holidays!
My fondest memories overseas stem from our total immersion in the local language, culture and food. Living in these cultures, in keeping with tradition, locals and their family members were hired to help take care of household tasks like gardening, cooking and cleaning. Although they cooked Americanized meals for our family, my sisters and I found the food much better if we sat with the locals on the floor and ate their meals! I learned about their lives and their children. From this experience stemmed the desire to try new things and see how other people live and celebrate, which has stuck with me through the rest of my life.
Q: You traveled quite a bit with the Peace Corps in your career. Can you tell us about some of those experiences?
Alisa: I was at a point in my life where I was trying to decide whether I should go back to graduate school or take a different path. I decided to join the Peace Corps. When you apply, you go anywhere you’re assigned. Throughout my time with the Peace Corps, I helped with small business development in the newly independent Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. We counseled budding entrepreneurs to help them transition from a collective farming system by providing business training and helping them obtain start up funding. We also did some historic preservation work on 500+ year old buildings and worked with sister cities in Scandinavia to help each benefit from new energy and commerce. Working in the Corps was a wonderful marriage of my public service interests. It clenched my desire to bridge the non-profit and public sectors and to apply these skills on the job.
Q: How do you feel these experiences abroad help/will help you in your new position as Executive Director with the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival?
Alisa: It’s given me an egalitarian view of business and the world. I’m not from any Asian culture, which allows me to be a neutral party to all. Having lived with many different cultures, I’ve become used to being the minority and listening to other points of view. At a young age, I became sensitive and aware of people’s differences, but learned not to let them prevent you from establishing relationships. My experiences have trained me well to understand that what may work for one community may not work for another. The challenge is to find out what mix works for each community and to be open to designing and customizing the relationship. My new position at CDBF is an opportunity to do that in a more formal way and to help all benefit from the experience.
Q: You are multilingual. What languages do you currently speak and how does that facilitate your work with CBDF?
Alisa: I currently speak Mandarin Chinese (the same language my daughter, Mimi, speaks), Estonian (from my Peace Corps days), and a bit of Bahasa, the language of Indonesia and Malaysia. Having learned languages that aren’t my mother tongue, I know what it’s like for others to learn English. This experience has helped me maintain an open mind and a perspective not limited by my American roots. My cross cultural upbringing has been an entree to conversation and trust, and has fostered respect and good working relationships with people I seek to assist.
Q: What brought you to Colorado?
Alisa: My dad applied to Park Hill United Methodist Church and was a minister of music there in the ‘70s. We all loved it here. My eldest sister was attending college at DU when our family went to Taiwan. Then in 1990, my parents decided to retire and join my eldest sister in Denver, so I came with them from the East Coast. It’s the longest place I’ve lived anywhere and I just love it!
Q: Tell us about some of your background since you moved to the state. How long have you lived in the Denver area?
Alisa: We moved first to Westminster in 1990. Colorado was a different place, with the bust of the economy, than it was in the ‘70s. The upside was that we were able to buy some properties. I settled in Denver and worked in the non-profit sector with Channel 6, the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, National Repertory Orchestra and Colorado Ballet. When I came back after serving in the Peace Corps, I worked in academia and the public sector.
Q: From one first to another. You were the first Cultural Affairs Manager at the City and County of Broomfield and you are now the first-ever Executive Director of the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival. What impact do you feel your experience(s) in Broomfield have/will have on your new position with the CBDF?
Alisa: At the city and county, I oversaw implementation of the cultural master plan. The plan was already approved when I got to Broomfield, so they were looking for someone to make it happen. We’re at the same point with the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival; however, I feel I have more direct involvement with how the CDBF strategic plan is forming. It’s exciting to be a part of the planning phase. I look forward to having more involvement and seeing the results. Interacting with so many entities at the City and County of Broomfield prepared me to deal with the City and County of Denver, as well as different community members and their needs. It made me comfortable wearing a lot of different hats to address folks in different areas to meet their needs (e.g. artists, musicians, etc.). Now I’m coming in earlier in the game. I hope to contribute to a plan that will take the organization a long way in the future. The Board has such vision and commitment, and I believe in what they’re doing and trying to preserve. It’s good timing all around.
Q: What drew you to the CDBF?
Alisa: The Operations Committee and the Board. The fact that they’ve been presenting the festival on a volunteer basis for seven years is astounding to me! They have gotten where they are with their passion and perseverance. Their payback and satisfaction is a wonderful festival that has grown and entertained so many people. They’ve succeeded in sharing all cultures presented with as many people as possible. The CBDF is a top-notch organization with an extremely talented group of individuals. Now they want some guidance at the executive level to direct their energies for the long term. It’s like a dragon boat race – there are lots of people on the boat; what’s needed is someone at the helm to help them know when to put their oars in the water and point them in the direction that will help CDBF achieve its future goals.
I also love getting to go back to Asia for a couple of days. I can get my fix of Asia and the Pacific in one weekend and I want to share that experience. I’m part of a single adoptive mom’s group that includes kids from all over the world. The mothers from the group bring their kids to the CDBF and just love experiencing it together. It’s great to educate people even more about what Asia has to offer.
Q: What are your goals for the CDBF during your tenure?
Alisa: Prior to joining the CDBF as Executive Director, the process of a strategic plan was started, but they didn’t have an opportunity to apply it. It was a challenge to separate the day to day from the big picture. Having me as Executive Director now frees the Board to think of the bigger picture, and I’m here to support them in that goal. They’ve had ideas simmering for many years and this is their chance to take it and run with it. I’m happy to help! We’re now getting the staffing set and organizing internal operations of the Festival so we can handle more year-round programs, services and related tasks. We’re consolidating valuable information and getting things down on paper that our volunteers have been doing for years.
The Board hasn’t had a chance to diversify the revenue side of the festival as much as they would like. I’m working on helping the Board be creative and consistent in fundraising efforts, for example, using online technology and small group events to contact potential donors year-round. I believe, and research shows, people are just waiting to be asked to be involved more at this level. I also support the Board’s desire to broaden the CDBF’s mission by offering year-round leadership training and educational programs to the community. We are also looking for an office so that the CDBF will have a physical location from which to operate and for everyone to access, and growing from there.
Q: With 90 days under your belt, what do you like best about working for CBDF?
Alisa: I love the brainstorming of ideas and the opportunity to think in different ways with people who are so motivated and passionate. There are so many details and the fact that everyone is focusing on one goal is very exciting. I’m learning about what makes everyone tick, and I look forward to connecting with all of the people involved. As a results oriented person, I have the ability to help them get the results and the resources they need for the success of the organization. I’m also enjoying working from home and the freedom it provides me to set my own schedule.
Q: What is your favorite part/aspect of the Festival (if you had to pick one)?
Alisa: The newest program to the Festival, Explore Asia! is just fabulous. It re-creates three different cultures that few people are familiar with, such as the Mongolian and Hmong communities last year. It’s like you’re stepping back in time or into another country when you see the costumes, food, performances, pictures and people from those countries talking about their cultures. It’s a great way to open up windows to the world in just two days! We may never get to these countries, so it’s great to know we can see and appreciate what they’re all about so close to home.
Q: What would you tell the first-time attendee to CBDF about the festival?
Alisa: It’s more than just about racing. If you want to time travel and step into Asia, this is an event you must attend. From Dragonland for the kids, to Gateway, to food, music, art and racing, you can experience everything there and not pay a penny, or take a piece of it home with you. It’s a great exercise in cross cultural immersion. If you’ve never experienced Asia, this is a great place to start.
Q: You recently adopted your daughter, Mimi, from China. Can you tell us how that experience was for you and how being a mother has changed your life?
Alisa: I started the process right after 9/11. It was a heads-up that I needed to act on things. In 2005, I saw Mimi’s picture and it became a reality. Since I had experience with the Chinese culture, from my years in Taiwan and Singapore, it was not a huge leap for me. The adoption was a wonderful way to stay connected overseas and to be a part of Mimi’s culture. I hope to provide her with the organic, grass roots experience I had growing up overseas. I feel that meeting a lot of different people and traveling are key to giving her a variety of experiences she may not have had in China and will help replicate the childhood I enjoyed. Mimi is a minority in Broomfield, like I was over in Asia. There is a positive outcome to transitioning between different cultures. The great thing is that kids don’t realize the difference between themselves and other kids. My position at the CBDF provides the flexibility to travel and allows Mimi to work like a little ambassador when we go places. One of her many gifts will be that she will be able to flow through different communities and age groups which I hope she can use to her advantage as she gets older. I feel very lucky to have been blessed with this opportunity to be her mom.
Q: Of all of the places where your travels taken you; what were your favorite to visit and why?
Alisa: I went to Moscow on a side trip while visiting Estonia in 2005. A professor at Moscow University gave my Estonian friend and me a personal tour and talked about all the jobs she and her husband had to do there to pull together a salary. It was an eye-opening experience and Moscow is an amazing place.
When I adopted Mimi, I spent a week in Beijing and visited both the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. I was astounded at the history and diversity, and I look forward to going back. Despite the pollution, it’s an amazing city.
In Scandinavia, Helsinki, Finland, Oslo Norway and Stockholm were just beautiful. In the Peace Corps, I had wonderful experiences traveling simply to all of these cities with Estonian friends of mine.
Singapore is my all-time favorite. It’s Asian and exotic, but Western enough not to feel out of place. My family spent a lot of time there when I was growing up. It’s a wonderful convergence of cultures and a stepping off point to other places in Asia.
Q: What’s your favorite dish?
Alisa: One of my favorite experiences was watching vendors on the street in Singapore sataying meat with huge banana leafs. They served it with rice cakes and cucumbers. I love satay (skewered sticks of marinated meat) and always try it wherever I go. Fried rice is also one of my favorites. Every culture has some version of a rice dish. In Malaysia, they have a wonderful, refreshing dessert called Gula Melaka. It’s a creamy tapioca pudding-like dish with molasses syrup on top. It cures anything that ails you! I love spicy foods, so I also really enjoy Asian and Indian curries and the complex tastes created with coconut, chili and lemongrass. In Estonia and the Baltics they have wonderful apple cobbler and roasted pork. Each region where I’ve traveled has wonderful dishes. I’m done with potatoes though - no more potatoes after living in Estonia!