In keeping with our tradition of interviewing new team members, we asked our new Associate Planner/Outreach Specialist, Carlisle Dockery, a few questions so that you all can get to know her!
- Tell us a bit about yourself:
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I joined the Circulate San Diego staff in late October of this year. Before starting this position, I worked as a Research Coordinator at Northeastern University organizing and executing community engagement plans for federally-funded resilience assessments across the U.S. I also spent one year serving as a FoodCorps service member at GROW Windham, collaborating with the public school district to bolster food access, local procurement for school meals, and sustainability initiatives. I graduated from Northeastern University with a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree and hold a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Davidson College. In my spare time, I can be found playing soccer, surfing, doing crossword puzzles, grocery shopping, taking the bus everywhere it goes, and talking to anyone who will listen to me about the need for WNBA expansion teams.
- How did you become interested in Circulate San Diego?
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Somehow or another, Circulate San Diego popped up on my Twitter feed a few years ago. Most of my Master’s research was focused on the intersection of public heath and urban planning, and I’d been trying to increase my awareness of organizations doing the kind of work I was interested in, so I joined the email list and started keeping tabs on their hiring notices, even though I was in Boston at the time. After living through a few too many cold winters, I began to seriously entertain the thought of moving to a warmer climate, but wanted to make sure that I maintained access to public transit, bike paths, and walkable spaces. I remembered all that I’d learned about this city through Circulate San Diego and decided to make the move, and just a few months later the whole process has come full circle!
- What’s your most memorable face palm moment? Or what is your biggest achievement to date? Choose one.
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This story may actually fall into both “face palm” and “achievement” categories. My senior year of college, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel to Iceland for spring break. Two of my friends and I planned the entire trip in the span of a few weeks—we were going to rent a car, drive around the entire country, and just camp in our tent every night. Somehow we neglected to fully realize that it would be incredibly cold in Iceland in February, and upon arrival quickly recalculated. There were a lot of nights spent sleeping in the car, eating ramen out of a camp stove on the side of the road, and warming up in various hot springs we came across, but we also got to see the Northern Lights, walk under waterfalls, and meet a bunch of very friendly Icelanders. It still shocks me that I made it back in one piece, but it was the furthest I’d ever stepped out of my comfort zone and I don’t regret it at all.
- If you could choose anyone, who would you pick as your mentor?
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For a life mentor, I’d want to learn everything I possibly could from Queen Latifah. I’ve been a huge fan of hers ever since I was a little kid. She can seemingly do it all—acting, singing, rapping, writing, hosting, you name it—and still manages to have a warm personality and a semblance of a private life as well. I’m inspired by her refusal to limit her talents to a specific sector, and try to embody that mindset to the best of my abilities whenever I can. Academically, I really admire the work of Josie Duffy Rice and Clint Smith (the latter is even a fellow Davidson Wildcat). I got into their podcast Justice in America during the early days of quarantine, and I find them to both be admirable critical/analytical thinkers.
