President's Corner - Sara Mokhtary

Happy Spring TSGC Members!

Spring brings my favorite holiday of the year, Norooz, or the Persian New Year. My dad was born in Iran and moved to the United States when he was 20 years old. As a non-English speaker, his first job was pumping gas on Melrose Ave in West Hollywood. While my dad fully embraced the Los Angeles culture, it was still important for him to maintain the ties to his Iranian heritage. Growing up, my brother and I were able to share in the joy of Norooz (its literal translation is “New Day”) with my dad, creating traditions that we will hopefully pass on to our future families.

My very humble haft-sin! Definitely check out these GoogleImages for more elaborate set-ups!

Norooz is celebrated on the spring equinox, or the first official day of Spring. Each year, families celebrating Norooz will prepare the house by doing a thorough cleaning (yes, even dreaded closet cleanouts!), followed by buying new clothes to wear in the new year. Houses place seven special items, all beginning with the letter S on a table, called a haft-sin (translation: seven “S”s). The items in the haft-sin each symbolize a virtue to welcome in the new year (kind of like a 3D manifestation board!)

I love Norooz because it serves as a reminder to focus on the bigger picture values and goals for the year, like patience, new beginnings, growth, and joy.  This year, Norooz fell at a perfect time - right after an extremely successful AEC in Houston (thank you again to our co-chairs, Rachel Franciskovich, Rachel Bluebond, Jackie Harkenrider, and all attendees!) The buzzing energy in the room was palpable, and many of you shared feedback that you felt rejuvenated after attending (and yes, we do read all of your comments!).

With many new committee chairs joining the board this year, it’s been a season of transition and growth. I continuously feel privileged to witness our volunteers' dedication to this organization. We have many exciting plans for the next year - including hosting TX-specific webinars, piloting a discussion forum for TSGC members, and awarding spring grant winners (just to name a few!)

Our growing Texas Transcript team also has a jam-packed May planned! We will have new content weekly - so make sure to follow “TexasGCs” on Instagram to be notified when articles are posted.

The TSGC board’s efforts are ALWAYS dedicated to serving you and the broader Texas GC community, so please reach out anytime with feedback or questions: info@tsgc.org or sara.nasrine@gmail.com.

Happy Norooz and Spring to all. Wishing you a season of growth and joy!

Sara Mokhtary, MS CGC
TSGC President