Halley Sanchez is our new Executive Assistant to Executive Director Keith Kasin and enthusiastic about her job. One of the most challenging aspects, she finds, is juggling Keith’s very busy calendar, trying to allow him time to complete tasks in between appointments.
“I don’t have much experience as an executive assistant,” Halley says, “but I do have ten years as a project manager of special events so I understand working with diverse personalities and schedules.” For an event for 3,000 people in San Diego’s Gaslamp District, she had to close the surrounding streets for two days.
Halley’s position is unusual in several ways. As she says, she and Keith more or less interviewed each other. Keith made major points when he said he did his own writing and got his own coffee. “He is the first boss I’ve had who treats me as an equal,” she remarks.
Halley’s education is rich in travel. A Californian born and raised, she began studying film in the Bay area where she grew up and, after a break of some time, finished a degree in cinema at San Francisco State. In between, she spent a summer abroad in Paris studying French at the Sorbonne, which turned into a job travelling around Europe and Asia as a production assistant for a TV producer. One day she subbed as a B-camera operator and earned that position.
Back home, Halley married a single father with 3 children and the couple have a son, now 9 years old. She and her family live on two acres in Vista, “a bit of country,” Halley notes. At present, she has four stepgrandchildren.
Halley likes SCUBA diving while her husband and son surf. She is interested in the preservation of marine mammals and education of our youth in the care and preservation of our oceans.
Be sure to welcome Halley when you meet her.
