As the new President of Sausalito Beautiful, I recently reflected on how beauty has shaped who I am, what I value, and why I have devoted the past six years to this organization. My story starts in southern California, listening to my parents lament the loss of the fragrant orange groves to the relentless march of the Orange County suburbs; I recall my mother bemoaning the terracing of the gently contoured hills above our hometown La Jolla into flat slabs for poorly sited houses. I myself cringe at the poor design of the public path along the coastal bluffs, whose natural beauty is breathtaking. Perhaps your childhood also shaped your ideals of beauty.

I have been fortunate to spend my life in places of natural and man-made beauty—in a family home overlooking the crashing waves in La Jolla, as an undergraduate on the park-like Wellesley College campus, as a graduate student amid the Gothic spires of Cambridge, England, as a young adult enjoying the watermelon pink of the Sandia mountains at sunset in New Mexico, and later raising a family amid spring’s cherry blossoms in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Now on my walks in Sausalito, I delight in the small-scale houses tucked into the verdant hills of our town overlooking the sparkling bay. I especially appreciate the coherence and sense of place in Sausalito.

Beauty shapes who we are and what we value. How has beauty shaped your life? Preserving and enhancing both natural and man-made beauty has been the guiding star of my personal and professional life. It has led me to advocate for open space preservation in Albuquerque, to become an urban planner working to concentrate growth in transit-oriented downtowns that prevent sprawl into the Montgomery County, MD countryside, to join Sausalito Beautiful as a founding Board member.

Beauty is a noun: a singular noun. (We had a lot of grammar instruction at my school in La Jolla.) Often, we appreciate beauty alone as we take our walks in the hills or by the bay to restore our health. While living in the Washington, D.C. area, I delighted in the banks of daffodils in Rock Creek Park, planted as part of Lady Bird Johnson’s Beautification movement. In Sausalito, when I drive by a Bridgeway median planted with colorful succulents it uplifts my spirit, just as walking by a weedy lot casts a pall on my mood. What areas in Sausalito lift your spirits? Which put a damper on your mood?

To Beautify is a verb—and not a passive but an active one. Join Sausalito Beautiful in taking  action in the beautification movement, to support harmonious design, to advocate for trees to enhance our landscape, to educate about appropriate plants for a changing climate. In Sausalito, we beautify together. I am excited to lead this organization, which is all about community, creating a culture of shared responsibility for our green spaces. Join me and become a Sausalito Beautiful volunteer!