Together Friends,
I am aware that an introductory photograph of me snowshoeing is an odd way to start a June newsletter, but stay with me.
It’s summer! School is out! The days are longer!
But by June, many of us are limping toward summer with a very specific kind of exhaustion. (Raises hand as I am on my sixth trip in five weeks and my house is so deep in the World Cup that we are all very tired!) The school year is ending. Calendars are overflowing. The phrase “I’ll deal with that in August” starts sounding deeply reasonable.
So for this month’s Together Tour (which is our last one until September), I wanted to do something a little different. Instead of focusing on planners, calendars, or meeting systems, I asked a few members of our Together community about something equally important: hobbies. The things they do not because they have to, but because the activities bring joy, energy, creativity, challenge, restoration, or simply a different kind of thinking.
These four humans – Nancy, Quinn, Randy, and Amber – are all honestly pretty amazing, but there is nothing different about any of them that makes their hobbies possible. Some of them I’ve known for over 15 years and worked with closely, and a few I’ve worked with from more of a distance. But I’ve had my eyes very open for what fuels us outside of work (with all the snow in the mid-Atlantic this year, I picked up snowshoeing as my new outdoor hobby!), and I’ve been bugging them all spring so I could gain insight into how they make space for these pursuits.
What emerged from my conversations was a really beautiful reminder that staying Together isn’t just about productivity. It’s also about making room for the parts of ourselves that exist outside of work. Let’s take a look.
Together Tour: Hobbies, Outlets, and Plain Old Fun
Nancy Livingston
I’ve known Nancy since she joined me at Achievement First sometime in the early 2000s, and I’ve always been so impressed with the smarts she brings to everything she does. She now serves as the CEO of NSSI (National Summer School Initiative) and is based in Nashville with her husband and school-aged son. I spotted photos of her quilts in my Facebook feed, and I had so many questions.
What’s your hobby – and how did you find your way to it?
My hobby is quilting. I wanted a hands-on, “grandma hobby” – something where you end up with a tangible object at the end. I briefly considered pottery, but quilting fit more naturally into my actual life because I could do it at home without needing a dedicated studio space.
There’s also a family connection. My grandmother quilted until arthritis made it too difficult, so there’s something meaningful about continuing that tradition in my own way. I started in 2024 through a beginner sewing course at a local art organization. We made progressively harder projects each week – scrunchies, coasters, tote bags – and by the end I felt confident enough to really start.
How do you make time for quilting? It looks so complex.
I quilt mostly in the evenings. My son loves Legos, so while he and my husband are building upstairs, I wheel my folding table into the playroom and cut fabric nearby. We’re all together, but I still get focused time. That’s probably my favorite version of Togetherness – everybody doing their own thing, but near each other.
What does quilting bring you?
Quilting forces me to fully engage mentally in a way scrolling my phone never does. There’s measuring, geometry, sequencing, organizing fabric – it requires attention. And unlike organizational leadership, quilting is wonderfully linear. You follow the pattern, one step at a time. There’s something very calming about that.
What’s one thing your hobby teaches you about Togetherness?
That creativity doesn’t have to be separate from family life. Some of my favorite projects are collaborative now because my son helps pick fabrics and patterns for gifts. That makes the finished quilts even more meaningful.
Quinn Vance
I cannot even remember when I first met Quinn, but he is an education legend, and he may have been sitting in the back of one of my Together classes back in the good old days. Quinn and I have bonded over our love of cycling (he is fast and super into it, I’m slow), and when I saw photos from his recent bike trip to Spain, I had to get alllll the details. Quinn serves as the Vice President of Region and School Support at KIPP Foundation.
Why cycling – and how did you find your way to it?
Honestly, I don’t know if I chose cycling as much as cycling chose me. I used to love basketball, but after a hip injury, I needed another outlet for that same energy and competitiveness. I bought a bike to ride around New York City, and that slowly turned into buying increasingly expensive bikes . . . which eventually became a full road cycling obsession.
How do you make time for cycling in your busy work and three kid life?
One thing that helps is treating personal priorities and professional priorities with equal importance. I time-block rides the same way I time-block meetings or projects. That creates transparency with my wife, but it also forces me to proactively think through how I want to spend my time. On average, I probably ride around ten hours a week. (Editor’s Note: I am seeing a pattern with how people are really making time for what matters!)
Cycling is both a release valve and a thinking space. Sometimes I listen to music or podcasts, but a lot of the time I’m just thinking. Riding requires enough focus to keep you present, but it also frees part of your brain to process ideas differently. Some of my best thinking happens on a bike.
What’s one thing your hobby teaches you about Togetherness?
That intentionality matters. If I don’t proactively make space for the things that restore me, work will absolutely consume all available time.
Randy Pease
Randy is my newest Together friend in this collection. I was preparing for a Together Teacher class in Indy with folks at Teach For America and The Mind Trust, and he happened to mention that he is a trivia host! My ears perked up immediately, and I then proceeded to stalk him to learn more about how he manages this fun hobby. By day, Randy works for Teach For America as the Managing Director of Network Impact.
What’s your hobby – and how did you find your way to it?
My two big hobbies are reading and hosting pub trivia. Reading grew out of my volunteer work with Indy Reads, a nonprofit focused on literacy. Being around books and people who care deeply about literacy reawakened something for me. I’m a former history teacher, so nonfiction is usually my thing – although I’m always willing to get distracted by dragons. And trivia scratches a completely different itch. I was a theatre major in college, and I love being on stage, holding a mic, working a crowd. It’s pure fun for me.
How do you make time for these fun things?
Honestly, I make time for reading basically by not watching TV. If I have ten free minutes, I’m probably picking up a book. And trivia works well because it’s consistent. Every Thursday night, Dad’s at trivia. It’s on the family calendar, and we plan around it. (Editor’s Note: It’s on the calendar; this seems like a big theme. The time is treated as sacred as a meeting.)
How do hobbies help you stay balanced when work can feel endless?
Mission-driven work stretches my discomfort muscles. So in my hobbies, I intentionally choose things that feel natural and energizing instead. Some people would find standing on stage hosting trivia for two hours exhausting. For me, it fills my bucket. And books have been a comfort to me since before kindergarten.
What’s one thing your hobbies teach you about Togetherness?
That joy matters. We spend so much time in mission-driven spaces talking about impact and outcomes – and that’s important. But people also need delight, curiosity, laughter, stories. Hobbies remind me of that.
Amber Field
Amber and I met somewhere in New York City. I was captivated by her energy and zest as a school leader. Over the years, we have stayed in touch with phone calls, quick Together Questions and more. And we love cheering each other on with some running! Amber, her husband, and two children recently left NYC for the NJ burbs and by day, Amber is the Head of Learning & Experience at BASTA.
What’s your hobby – and how did you find your way to it?
Running and cycling. I started running consistently about twelve years ago. I was holding my one-year-old daughter while watching a race go by my building, and I remember thinking: Next year, I’m going to run that race. And I did. It started with 5Ks, then half marathons, then eventually marathons – even though I swore for years I’d never run one. Now I’ve run four.
I also started indoor cycling more recently because I needed another outlet while managing injuries and getting older. And honestly? I love it just as much. I love the music, the rhythm, the competition, the energy of the classes. I’m even becoming an instructor.
How do you make time for running with everything else you juggle?
I block workouts directly into my calendar – even my work calendar. I’ll get up at 4:00 AM if I need to in order to get a long run in before an event. I’ll run in the rain, the heat, the snow – whatever. At this point, my family knows this is something I genuinely need.
How do hobbies help you stay balanced when work can feel endless?
Exercise has never been an option for me – it has always been essential. I’m definitely part of the anxiety-driven crew of people, and movement keeps me grounded and calm. Running, breathing, praying – all of it works together, fueling my thinking, my creativity, my spirit, so I have to make time for it. I feel strong and pretty awesome knowing I can physically do hard things like running and cycling.
What’s one thing your hobby teaches you about Togetherness?
That taking care of yourself is not optional. I used to think of workouts as extra. Now I think of them as foundational.
A Big Together Thank-You
Thank you to Nancy, Quinn, Randy, and Amber for sharing such thoughtful glimpses into the hobbies and routines that help sustain you outside of work.
One thing I kept thinking while putting this together: every single person here talked about their hobby not as an “extra,” but as something deeply connected to how they stay grounded, energized, creative, and fully human. And especially in June – when many of us are running on fumes – that feels like an important reminder.
- Sweep and scrub your calendar! Summer can bring a lot of change to our typical schedules. This makes it a great time to look at your long-term priorities and deadlines, as well as short-term goals, to plan and adjust your calendar as needed.
- Support Togetherness during your professional development. Set up a Together Table at your next PD by providing supplies (and self-care items!) for your team. Who doesn’t need some Tums beside their Post-it notes?!
- Give yourself a break! Avoid false fatigue and the distraction it can bring by taking a brain break after a large chunk of work. This will allow you to recenter yourself so you can get back to the task at hand.
