Chloé Mayer, CCAS BA ’09
City: Redwood City, CA
Role: Member, GW Bay Area Alumni Network Committee
How long have you been volunteering with GW?
I joined the Bay Area committee three years ago in summer of 2012.
What made you decide to become involved with your Regional Alumni Network and committee?
I moved to San Francisco on a dream, a whim, and a one-way ticket. It was crazy that the two different people I found myself graciously crashing with my first month were acquaintances from GW. One of them took me to the annual Giants vs. Nats game (go Giants?) and I immediately realized getting involved with GW out on the west coast was going to be a good fit for me; I could make new friends, reminisce with people that had a D.C. experience, and get help in my quest for a career in technology.
What has been the most rewarding part of your volunteer experience?
Definitely finding a community that I have a shared past experience with, but one that I can grow with in a different city, all in different phases of our lives.
How do you think your involvement with your regional alumni network has strengthened your connection back to GW?
It’s so easy to graduate from college, move to a new city, and never look back. I feel lucky that some of my favorite people are GW grads, and lucky for me, also live in the Bay Area. Not all of them are involved though, and I find that by meeting and engaging with other alum outside of my core network, I care about what happens at GW, in DC, and the greater global impact we can have as a university community and organization.
Do you have a favorite #OnlyatGW story involving an alumni connection in your area?
My first day at Google, I got a company-wide email from a name I weirdly recognized. And at a company of 55,000+ people, I thought surely it was just a coincidence. But, then I looked him up on LinkedIn. And sure enough, it was a fellow SMPA grad from the year ahead of me. I replied to the email and was so excited to see a GW grad working on executive communications at Google. We had coffee the following week.
Why is it important for alumni to be engaged with their respective Regional Alumni Network?
It’s important for people to get and stay engaged regionally because it helps the individual and alum community enrich their past, present, and future. It helps to ensure the continuation of shared values, to give back to an organization that surely gave so much to all of us. (Come out! Come say hello!)
