Pittsburgh: Love Hurts!

I cannot think of anywhere I would rather have lived and am living (other than being with my daughter). I cannot fathom where else I would want to be during this pandemic.

Nor during the protests for Black Lives Matter. Nor during the elections. And yes, even during the winter of less sunshine and often bleak days. After nearly a year of quarantine, I remain steadfast in my view of tomorrow, here, in and for Pittsburgh. Why?  

I work with and connect with a dizzying array of poignantly talented, driven people who cut across every slice of this city and region. I revere the Pittsburgh remnants of the past, even those that are decaying and are grappling to hold on as the world shifts. I even more adore, the people who know how to grab a piece of hope by living with intention. And of course, to those who lead the fight for equity and prosperity.   

Sometimes unfortunately, Pittsburgh possesses a timeless narrative as people who know our own flaws are too often immersed in what has been, not what it will be. It is a mosaic of a story which rests upon our own steady patience sometimes sprinkled with despair. However, Pittsburgh epitomizes an urban strength that is underpinned with tensions that create both innovation as well as dismay. These emotions propel my desire to make an impact, to matter. If I can open doors for others, isn’t that a life well lived? These are the core tenets of the Tech Council. To work with such alignment is a privilege.  

I am lucky. I have been supported by a board chair, Jason Wolfe, who in his own right, possesses the uncanny ability to build companies while marred with a childhood that filled him with more odds than I ever had. We have a board of directors that reflects the best of tech and innovation, who incorporated the words “innovate or die” into their active vocabulary. The early months of unknowing at the onset of the pandemic tussled my own leadership that I had thought was well mastered. All the daily changes, pivoting events to online, requiring us to alter  our game of building communities, business development, networking, talent attraction, storytelling – everything was turned upside down.  

There were days and weeks, where we were throwing ideas at our virtual world. I miss my whiteboard wall. I never internalized how critical drawing is to me until I spent time home, alone, trying to extemporaneously collaborate. I communicate with a marker. And I am at my best when I riff off of others’ ideations.) I did not ever think we were NOT going to endure, but I was not certain that we could keep the pace of all the shifts. I worried about each and every member of our team, about how they would juggle their personal responsibilities, their quarantine, their whole health and the stress of meeting our objectives.  

And now back to love and what hurts… Our population is not growing. We are not attracting foreign-born talent who will make the region their home. We have communities of people across SWPA who we are rapidly leaving behind. We are competing with other cities who are growing during the pandemic. We have lost so many restaurants. Our cultural amenities are atrophied despite their efforts. Many of our region’s public schools are struggling to be competitive and thrive. We are not prepared for the new shift in what it means to “live to work” and “work to live.” We are not going back to the way things were before 2019. 

We cannot pretend that we are all going to be operating the same way. The way we learn. The way we work. The tools we use. The locations we chose to live. All of this has changed. The poverty that remains has worsened. And we cannot rely on “benchmarking other cities” or the often silly, top-rated lists. The solutions are right here, among us. 

I remain in love with Pittsburgh and its uncanny regional strength to muscle past these impediments. I serve you as one of your most fervent ambassadors, but we need to create our collective muscle. We have the grit to do this. I know it.