A new year. Turning the page. A new beginning. These phrases resonate with me right now, on my official last day as the Executive Director of the Ava Gardner Museum. It has been quite an adventure! I am so grateful for the trust and confidence the board of directors placed in me in 2017 when I was asked to step in as the interim director. From there, it was up to me to prove to them, and myself, that I was up to the task. Now, here we are, seven years later and I am proud of myself and the team I have had the honor of working with for all the amazing things we have accomplished. As I have mentioned before, probably the thing that I am most proud of is the Ava 100 celebrations over the last 2 years. The preparation, the events, installing the mural and rose garden, and having an Ava “family” reunion -- it was more than I could have hoped for.

There are so many people to thank, so many things to remember, so many friendships formed. If you have a few minutes, you can watch the Ava Chats I filmed with my teammates, and forever friends, Lora Stocker and Beth Nevarez. I also wrote my last newsletter this month, which you can find here.

I’m not going away completely, of course. Who could? I’ll still be part of the museum team, in the background, working on financial stuff and grant administration.

Lastly, I want to say that I am forever grateful for the support of all the Ava fans. You all are an incredible community and we wouldn’t be here without you. It’s not “good-bye,” it’s “see you soon!”