Alicia Crank’s intense passion for the city has been on full display the past two years in her role as executive director of Seattle CityClub , where she has worked tirelessly to bring diverse voices to Seattle’s political scene.
“For me, it’s always been about making sure that there’s representation on our local city councils,” says Crank, a former candidate for Edmonds City Council herself. “Representation doesn’t just mean race or gender, it’s socioeconomic. It’s also life experience, and work experience.”
In addition to her CityClub duties, Crank has joined Seattle magazine as the new “director of opportunities.” In her new role, Crank will serve as a community ambassador for the publication, and will help identify both revenue and engagement opportunities.
Why did you take this role? Being able to connect with different people across different leadership roles, and being able to connect with civic leaders, community leaders, and learning how things work from a political perspective, drew me to this role. When transitioning into the role, I think it’s important to take what I’ve listened to and heard from other people and find opportunities to take action based on those conversations. Also, being able to level out and have meaningful conversations while being able to promote civil discourse without it being something that’s one sided, or super polarizing, is important.
What do you envision for Seattle magazine? I envision being able to bring more people together, and when I say that I mean the greater Seattle area. One of the things I hope to do as someone who works for a predominant Seattle organization, be it Seattle CityClub, and now Seattle magazine, is being able to bring (new) people into the conversation.
How do you measure success in this role? By feedback. Success comes if someone’s still talking about it afterwards. Success is when I can create an opportunity for someone to take something a step further, such as if two people who were sharing a space but didn’t know they were, are now able to connect.
You’re bullish on the future of Seattle. Why? I think the future of Seattle really leans into two different things. One is the ability from a representation standpoint to create more pathways. I think that’s happening, especially with the makeup of city and county leadership right now. We need to make sure that we have various voices at the table to make sure that on a holistic level, our leadership is taking in the best information possible. If we can create pathways to make sure that we’re hearing various points of view, that is where the future of Seattle’s success is going to lie.
Tell us something surprising about yourself. I grew up in Detroit, and when I was 21, I got restless and had this urge to just get out of town and experience something different for a couple of years. It turned into a lifelong thing. I bought a train ticket and had just $300 in my pocket. I got on Amtrak and moved from Detroit to San Jose, Calif., not knowing anybody. That’s how I started my West Coast adventure. I thought maybe I would go live on the West Coast a year or two just to say I did it and move back to Detroit, and that just never happened. People who I tell this story to (often say), “You were so brave,” and I say, “Oh, I was just so stupid,” but it worked out. This project, my adult trajectory, started with 300 bucks, a train ticket, and a dream.
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