Work-life integration isn’t something I simply discuss and train on with clients; I live and breathe this every day of my own life. For example, when I travel, practicing work-life integration helps put a spotlight on my priorities for various buckets of life: work, home, community and self-care.

Last week, I traveled to Atlanta for Raleigh Chamber’s Inter-City Visit & Leadership Conference, and, with time as our most limited resource, I exercised the valuable skill of work-life integration:

🌻 Enjoyed delicious dinners at a mano with my amazing Kappa Alpha Theta big sister, Shelly Ellerhorst, and at Guac y Margys with my fabulous friend, Vernessa Roberts (including very fun Beyonce trivia amidst our margaritas!)

🌻 Simul-tasked in following the Carolina Hurricanes’ win over the Washington Capitals on my phone while streaming the NC State Women’s Basketball team at the Final Four on a friend’s phone attending the Atlanta Braves’ season opener, which was made extra entertaining by the Braves’ exciting comeback victory

🌻 Engaged in the conference agenda which was incredibly well planned out by Andrew Blackburn, Gary Greene and everyone from the Raleigh Chamber staff as well as the planning committee.

Huge kudos to the Raleigh Chamber team for their attention to detail in planning what content was absorbed and what lessons we’ll bring back to the Raleigh metro area:

💡 We started with an economic overview highlighting similarities and differences between Atlanta and Raleigh, including how there are only 500,000 folks living inside the city limits of Atlanta, which is surprisingly similar to the 485,000 who live inside Raleigh’s city limits. Although the metro areas vary in size, we were repeatedly reminded of how imperative it is to keep a vital downtown as the heart of the community, a task which Downtown Raleigh Alliance takes seriously. Plus, as multiple areas across the metro grow, it becomes increasingly important to focus on connecting those growth zones via transportation, transit and greenway options.

💡 A panel of business leaders emphasized the value placed on civic rent by members of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, making sure that everyone understood how we must bring forth ideas and energy to fix the things about which we complain; similarly, the Atlanta Committee for Progress is a group of business leaders who meet quarterly with the city’s mayor to address current issues.

💡 By touring the National Center for Civil and Human Rights and engaging with a panel educating us on the city’s mission of being “a city too busy to hate”, we could appreciate the importance of learning from the realities of our region’s past, encouraging various perspectives to engage together for creating more effective solutions and consistently working toward the lofty vision of a more perfect union. If you are able to visit the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, be sure to participate in the lunch counter sit-in simulation and place yourself in the shoes of non-violent protestors; it is very impactful. I was blown away by how effectively this museum utilizes lights, sounds and colors.

💡 We experienced developments in the Atlanta area which mirror land use projects across the Triangle. For example, Piedmont Park as a 189 acre public park option spurred creative use ideas for the 308 acres of Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh… Piedmont Park even includes a public pool! Meanwhile, The Battery Atlanta shows what can be built up around PNC Arena to bolster the economy while facilitating an amazingly wonderful event attendee experience, Atlanta Beltline shows how restaurants, retail and offices can productively intermingle with a multimodal bike/ped path similar to that of the Capital Area Greenway trail system, and Ponce City Market is a similar adaptive reuse from the same developers of Raleigh Iron Works that also includes a slide while adding rooftop putt-putt and carnival games amidst retail, restaurants and residential options.

It’s always so powerful to see the simultaneous improvement of economic opportunity amidst greater quality of life. Thank you to everyone who contributed to a successful ICVLC24 for all elements of work-life integration, and I look forward to continuing to cultivate the many relationships fostered over these traveling adventures.

Attendees of the Raleigh Chamber’s Inter-City Visit and Leadership Conference wrapped up our time in Atlanta with a Braves baseball game

Enjoy more content like this throughout the blog. Use the search box below to find any specific topic.

Lessons from Raleigh Chamber Visit to Atlanta