A letter from Tecuana: Change & Opportunity

Hello Team Hollyhock,

I want to share an important change coming for campus leadership. After a 36-year stint (for the most part) of calling Cortes my primary home, I will be moving off the island next August. 

This is a big transition for me. I have worked at Hollyhock for 16 years, but my connection began long before that. My mother worked at Hollyhock in several roles (glasses and very long hair), and I spent much of my babyhood and early childhood on campus.

My  grandfather also worked here for a few years. His photograph hangs across from the entrance to the buffet room. Anyone who has met the friendly ghost in the basement who just wants to “make sure everything is being taken care of” has met him. A little ghost of Hollyhock past.

Despite that history, well, really because of that history, and the sometimes not-so-nice lore about Hollyhock in the Cortes community, I swore I would never work here. Eventually, in 2010, I came as a favour to a close friend who was a first cook. The kitchen was, surprise, surprise, short-staffed, and I agreed to come in and help as a dishwasher. At the time, I mostly worked doing odd jobs; private housekeeping, catering weddings, firewood etc.

Taking the Hollyhock job meant a cut of more than half in my hourly pay, and I never imagined staying long. What I discovered was that a regular paycheque and access to EI offered stability that my higher-paid but unpredictable work did not. I also found an amazing team and a place where I could grow.  Over the years, I worked my way up from the dish pit, through cooking and kitchen management, and eventually into campus leadership. 

That experience shaped who I wanted to be as a leader. I wanted the impetus for people to choose to stay at Hollyhock to be more than just the steady paycheque. I wanted to protect that and make it as good as possible, but I also wanted this to be a job that people enjoyed coming back to. A place where the local population of Cortes Island could find good employment, and a place that contributed positively to the local economy. For me, Hollyhock became a ladder out of unsafe living situations and into security, independence, and a capacity for leadership I hadn’t known I possessed. Because of that experience, I believe deeply that meaningful employment is one of the strongest forms of social service, and is why I care so passionately about local economy. 

What surprised me was how those moves changed the way I was percieved. As a cook, I was a fearless colleague, speaking out against (what I saw as) injustice ( I was a bit of a brat sometimes, honestly); as a manager, I could be the fiery advocate demanding better for our team. Becoming a director brought the sometimes painful realization that I was now seen as “one of them,” even though I still felt like the same person. It taught me that each role carries different expectations, different pressures, and different heartaches. I have enormous gratitude for the people who helped me along the way, both by showing me what I was doing well and by telling me in no uncertain terms what I messed up. There is always more to do, and I know I have not always got it right.

The people on the front lines do extremely important work. Holding the container for someone else’s transformative experience is hard work. It’s not immediately apparent what our guests go through, even for us as staff, and how that might show up from the way they arrive at registration, through how their gut (and their never-ending dietary needs) are holding their trauma or pain. The people providing that care to our guests need care and support themselves. I have wanted that understanding to be part of how we lead and make decisions at Hollyhock. I have also wanted us to bring that care to our relationships across teams and with the wider Cortes community. It is important to me that we understand one another’s work, that campus and remote staff feel connected and like part of the same team rather than in competition for resources, and that Hollyhock contributes thoughtfully to the local economy and community life. Putting those values into practice involves difficult choices about where our time, money, and attention go. Investing in one area means consciously deprioritizing another, even when both matter. I have had to learn to take responsibility for those trade-offs and the impact they have on people, and stand behind hard decisions, even some that have not been my own. 

Over these 16 years, I have watched expectations around retention, wages, care, and working conditions rise. I hope I have contributed to that progress, alongside the many staff and leaders who have helped move it forward. Some changes that once felt like impossible leaps have become the minimum expectation, the ground floor for the next step. There is a great deal for many people to be proud of. I am grateful to know that these values are mirrored and held by every member of our senior team and our board of directors so I know this work will continue to be a priority in Hollyhock’s future.