Just Add Water

Lily, my toddler, was playing with some of the goodies from her Grandmary care package last night.  Once she decimated the stickers and set the slinky on every imaginable angled surface, she latched on to the magic dinosaur eggs.  “Just add water!”, the package instructed happily.  We found a bowl, filled it with hot water, dropped the magic pellets in, and voila!  Foam dinosaurs shapes.

Lil was fascinated by the quick transition from gelatinous pellet to cool stegosaurus.  As I watched more of the critters appear, I thought about a similar rapid transformation of the warm-blooded persuasion:  Eydie Voss, my HDD Project Manager.

Eydie first came to me in the summer of 2007.  When she interviewed for an intern position, she was full of excitement and creativity and ideas for democratic design.  I knew that her potential was amazing, so I brought her on and watched her unfold from a student to a leader in a few short months.  When HDD began to grow in the fall of ‘07 and we had the opportunity to bring on 8 interns, Eydie created our first intern leadership position:  Senior Intern Coordinator.  She hired, trained and developed a new group of girls and helped the business grow to a more amazing level.  When Eydie graduated in May ‘08, I knew I had to have her full time.  As Project Manager, she transformed the HDD processes, streamlining all duties and making sure we moved in the right direction each day.  She not only took great care of the girls and our clients, but she took care of me, too.

Now that Eydie has some design and management experience under her belt, it’s time for her to leave the nest.  I’ve taught her all I could about being a good leader and mentor and friend, so I’m ready to let her go.  She heads south to Florida to gain experience at a larger commercial firm, and will rejoin me as a franchise owner when her brain is full of other cool things.  I’ll try really hard not to cry every time I see magic dinosaur eggs.

Thanks, Eydie, for everything. You rock.