We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rosanne Marmor a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rosanne, appreciate you joining us today. How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?

At 12 years old I joined a journalism program called Children’s Express (CE). I quickly became one of the kids who did interviews on my own all over New York City. From 1974 through 1994, I worked for Children’s Express, first as a kid reporter and then assisting running a bureau in Alameda CA. CE had loads of wealthier kids from Manhattan. They came to my school, full of more wealthy kids not knowing I was there. (My parents used my grandmother’s address so I could go to a fancy school). I didn’t know they weren’t recruiting me, so I joined. I was a shock to their system, more streetwise and tough than they were used to but the founder was intrigued with me so they began sending me out on stories about other kids who were poor, sick or in need. I learned about children in Ireland who had come to NYC for a short break in the war there, they showed me rubber bullets and told me what it was like to live in that time, in that place. I met a girl with cystic fibrosis in her home and saw her medical equipment and learned about the fear her parents felt for her. I interviewed children who were refugees from Cambodia and Haiti and heard their horror stories. I also met Mister Rogers and MR. T. as well as countless others who wanted to tell me their stories.

They also had me interview some kids who volunteered in a soup kitchen, delivering meals on the Lower East Side and doing small home repairs. I began volunteering with those kids (Youth Services Opportunities Project, YSOP) and spent all my time being a baby social worker, I just didn’t know what it was called at the time. In CE, I learned to ask questions, be curious, show compassion and be ever present. Many children who grow up poor and hungry have a world that shrinks before they have a chance to spread wings, my world expanded with my wings even though my life outside of CE and YSOP was scary and deeply entrenched in poverty and illness. My first job got me out of being bullied and hurt and started a career in CA that has served so many children and adults.

Once I landed in CA, I began working on Hearings on Crack Cocaine in Oakland for CE. We had children interviewing politicians, police, hospital staff and parents and children to show what was happening to beautiful Oakland and the Black community there; I was 18 years old. My final work for CE came when I was 26 and we took seven kids to Beijing, China for the United Nations NGO conference on Women. My first job began at 12 and my final project for Children’s Express ended when I was much older. But, CE has never left my bones. My work as a therapist and business owner (now co-op founder) comes from the depth of what I learned from this innovative program that saved my life.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I grew up in NYC at a time when it was gritty and cold and dirty. I was very poor and spent a lot of time hungry and seeking. My upbringing taught me to b=never leave someone behind but there are so many someones. Some of my life’s work has been corralling the need to simply take care of everyone. As I aged, learned, grew up my idea of caring for others changed into a deep need to provide agency to others. Find in others what makes them joyful and help them create more of that in their lives. In my career, there have been so many things I am proud of because surrounding me have been some of the best colleagues I’ve encountered. I became a social worker to help people, fight for justice, change systems. I am a social worker who created asset building programs for children and adults, domestic violence programs that served hundreds of women, personally served thousands of people living in affordable housing, and now built a company focused on service.

Today, I am proud of Pulse Wellness Cooperative. I left non-profit work ten years ago. I fantasized about what I wanted, really wanted, for me. If service was foundational for who I am in the world then I needed to find what made me happy solely for me. I finally realized that I could serve me and in that; others would still be at the forefront of my mission and values. I hired my first employee a year and half later. When Pulse Wellness was six years old, I began converting Pulse (with four other colleagues) into a cooperative. Over the course of a year, we created a viable co-op that now has 13 people working and thriving. We serve hundreds of people, we care for ourselves, we train and consult with non-profits and we laugh a lot. I built a healthy and loving company that believe in excellence and ethical, compassionate care.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I learned to be tough and cool. As a teenager, working in soup kitchens and traveling all over NYC, I learned to walk with a “don’t fuck with me” attitude. I also learned that being directive and bossy got me what I wanted from adults. they thought is was cute, mostly. I would join something and quickly rise from volunteer to being in charge of something or leading something. I was great at managing, delegating and finding out of the box solutions. I treated people I served with compassion and bossed around those who were lateral (or even above) me.

When I moved to Portland, Oregon my rough edges scratched the skin of a lot of people. Leaders/bosses saw my passion, prowess with people but my bossy, toughness prevented my from gaining traction in the field, along with Oregonians not knowing many New Yorkers or Jewish people, at the time. The desire to lead, increase my power in the field of social work and my ability to see my flaws helped me soften. I learned that holding space for employees and serving them, helped them, help others. I began to see the inequity in the field of helping professionals. The message service providers get is more like this, “Patch the worker up enough so that they go back out there to help others but don’t give them all they need to also heal.” and in that we hurt those who help. I began looking for ways to live my values in every room I enter. I learned to care for staff and colleagues so that they were shored up for the hard work rather than giving them gift cards for coffee when the work becomes unbearable.

I have learned that I can get excellence from a team I care for in all of who they are and not just enough so that they serve others.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

At the age of 30, I began trying to have a baby. At 40, my wife and I adopted our daughter from China. At 40, I was also working for a non-profit that provided affordable housing. I ran the department of service providers and had a middle management position with a reasonable amount of responsibility. At 42, I was ready for more and left for a much larger position with more staff, more units to serve, with a lot more to be responsible for and I LOVED it! I stayed there seven years and did amazing work. I also worked 70 hours a week many weeks and raced off to every fire, gang shooting or suicide that would occur. I served and helped and almost lost sight of my family and the reason I wanted a baby.

One morning, at 6:00 am, I had been working, my daughter came down to cuddle and I had her put her head on my lap so I could continue to answer email. Sometimes, you see yourself, suddenly it is clear and this awakening either haunts and shames you or changes you. I changed. I began looking for an exit that gave me purpose and lowered the volume on the work so I could be the mom I had intended on being. After two years, I left for another non-profit. It was awful! While, not a mistake because it lead me to what I do now, it was all the things that make a non-profit sick and I felt stuck. I made my bed etc,.. and I believed I had no choice but to stay because I promised them I would work there and help them. I had never worked for myself as a social worker, I hadn’t run a business on my own. I simply didn’t believe in myself. And I promised.

My wife sees the world (and me in the world) differently than I do, thankfully. She believed in me, she sees the world of work as a series of contracts and not promises, she encourages and supports. During this time in this new job, she did what she always does (encouraged and supported) and I finally gave my notice. My wife and daughter, both, made me promise to not work from May to September. The longest break from work I have ever had since I was nine years old, yes my actual first job was at nine. I spent the summer having fun with our daughter and plotting. I would drive around thinking about what Portland really needed and what I wanted to give it.

My summer off turned into Pulse. And, my daughter has so many memories of me being there for her. The pivot worked.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pulsewellness.coop
• Other: We have gotten away from using all social media due to the political climate