McDonald takes over at Partnership Carson City

After nearly a decade, Partnership Carson City will be seeing a new face in its top spot.

Hannah McDonald has been named the new executive director for Partnership Carson City, replacing 10-year acting director Kathy Bartosz.

“I am excited to see what the future holds for Partnership and I am excited to bring in some new ideas,” McDonald said.

McDonald has been serving the community with the organization since 2010, starting in a part-time job as the youth coordinator, moving her way up to full-time as the community outreach coordinator and sub-grant manager and, as of Oct. 1, the new director.

“Originally I was a stay at home mom and I needed out of the house,” McDonald said. “I had postpartum depression and Kathy actually called me because their youth coordinator had left and they needed someone to fill the position and it all just fell into place.”

She said getting that phone call from her former employer all those years ago was a blessing.

“I love it (here), it’s as simple as that,” McDonald said. “It has never felt like work, and that’s just how it should feel, like your job is just another piece of your life that completes you.”

At 29, the Starbucks-loving mother of three will be the youngest director Partnership Carson City has had, and one of the youngest directors in the state.

The organization is one of several that are part of the Nevada Statewide Coalition, which collaborates with several coalitions across the state on building healthy communities.

“It feels good (to be one of the youngest directors in the state),” McDonald said. “So many young women look at situations and say, ‘I won’t be there,’ well yes you will. It will take time, and hard work and long hours and even some tears, but you will get there.”

She said that her age is a benefit because she can bring new ideas to the table, while also being able to learn from her more experienced counterparts.

“My age may make people who have been in the field more apprehensive, but my age gives me drive and determination to do this,” McDonald said. “And when in doubt, I have older people to turn to for help and they are wiser so I can utilize them.”

“Even though I am young, I am a mother, a wife and a daughter of this community and I have an understanding of both people younger and older than me, so I feel like I am standing on a fence to be able to incorporate both things.”

But, it isn’t all exciting.

For McDonald, the worry about being a mother and a working woman is all too real, especially taking this new role.

“I am nervous about making sure I give my children the time they deserve, which I think most moms can relate to that,” McDonald said. “But I am also doing this job so that my children and their friends and their families have a healthy community to grow up in, so I think that’s a fair trade.”

Luckily, those nerves are buried underneath a mountain of excitement for McDonald.

“It is hard to say what I am most excited about,” McDonald said. “I am excited to be involved at a different capacity, I am excited to bring new ideas to the table and to help my staff bring their ideas to life.”

McDonald hopes to continue the direction Bartosz started as well as building more on their community interaction to better provide resources and education, growing their youth programs and increasing the coalition members in the community.

“I would like to see us involved with more than just agencies or businesses but also with families, which we do, but not enough and I want to see it larger.”