Over the coming months, we’ll be sharing short interviews with the CNF staff, Board of Directors, and Corporate Advisory Board, with our community. In the year to come, we’d love to hear more about you, and your stories. About why you connect with CNF, and what we can do to help support you in the future. So to kick off this process of getting to know each other, we thought we’d start by sharing a little about ourselves. And who better to start with than our Executive Director/CEO, Amy Brin.

What’s your role at CNF?

I’m the team quarterback. Executive Director/ CEO.

How do you spend your time when you’re not at work?

I try to laugh a lot. My favorite people to laugh with are my sons. If not with them, I like to be on a boat, playing a jute box, cheering on a parade, getting a runner’s high, or slaying some crab legs.

If you could have one super power, what would it be?

To be able to give – whomever is standing directly in front of me – their deepest desire. Wouldn’t that be fun?! I LOVE to see people crazy joyful.

What do you love about your work with CNF?

It’s about doing what’s right for children and families. That’s it; it’s that simple. We have an incredible Board of Directors that keep it that simple. Which applies to our programs, operations, and strategy. When that is your NorthStar – everything else is just fun, creative, and insanely rewarding. That’s why CNF’s trajectory over the past 5 years has been so gnarly – when your intent is pure, a natural flow of resources, expertise and energy swarms you….and you are catapulted towards impactful contribution. We walk the talk here at CNF – and it’s a blast.

Which CNF Value do you identify with the most?

Stewardship. I’ve really seen in life, when I can stop, and be present with another…the truth of their need becomes obvious. And then, you just have to talk about what you are both comfortable ‘doing’ about that need…..and the strategy of how to make that happen…becomes obvious. Usually, the most brilliant and authentic work is born from those conversations. BUT it requires both parties to be good stewards of each other’s vulnerability. And truly, that’s how I execute our strategy at CNF. It’s that organic. It’s that true. Being a good steward is just in CNF’s bloodline.

How did life lead you to join CNF?

I was actually in a valley of uncertainty and darkness. My professional life was not working out as I had planned. I felt completely lost and sad.  I received a call from CNF leadership at the time about doing a 60-day contract on transition of care project. I thought it was ‘a bandaid’….it turned out to be a ‘life boat’. Through CNF, I have learned beautiful lessons about life, community and myself. It’s forced me to address both professional and personal issues in order to do my job right and well…and for that, I’m incredibly grateful. I remember in 2004, I wrote an intention on a napkin that I wanted my professional and personal self to be the same. I didn’t want to be one person, one place; and another, in another place. I was seeing that was common in the workplace; it looked exhausting! I see now CNF is the manifestation to that intention.

What do you love about CNF’s story?

Everyone had bet against us in 2014. We re-wrote our story based on truth, an idea that had yet to be realized, and basic hard work. We are Rocky vs. Drago (I love the 80s!!!).

You have 30 seconds to pitch the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation about CNF at a conference – what do you say?

1 in 6 children in the United States lives with a neurologic condition. They wait an average of 9 weeks to see a child neurologist. During this odyssey, over 65% of these families experience financial hardship, divorce, and their own medical disease. 100% of the siblings themselves have special health care needs. You want to make a single contribution that improves our country’s medical, economic, and educational systems? Invest in CNF.