February 2012
10 (or so) questions with...Jodi Millerbernd
By Steve Lange
Executive Director, Boys & Girls Club.
Rochester Magazine: What’s your title?
Jodi Millerbernd: Executive director slash mom extraordinaire.
RM: That’s a good transition, because I heard your daughter described this way: “Adorable. A. Dor. A. Ble.”
JM: So you’ve seen her?
RM: Well, I did see pictures of her on your Facebook page, but someone else told me that. What’s her name?
JM: Adeline. Named after her great grandma. She’s 5. This is my only child, and I’m fairly certain she was put in my life for a good reason, and my mantra is ‘I’m raising a leader, I’m raising a leader.’ But most days it’s more like ‘Can you get your shoes on, please? You’re going to cure cancer one day, but right now, you have to eat breakfast and brush your teeth.’
RM: I know you have a lot of them, but give me one good Boys & Girls Club story.
JM: You’re going to make me cry, aren’t you? RM: I’m trying. It’s my Barbara Walters move, asking you that when you’re vulnerable after talking about your kid. JM: I always cry when I tell this story. There was a young man who grew up, literally, through the Club, and when he turned 16 he was eligible to start working there. One of his duties was to work in the kitchen … He turned 18 while he was working with us, and I was the unit director at the time, so I decided I was going to get him a birthday cake, because that’s what I do—I’m cheesy and over the top sometimes. So I snuck out and got him a birthday cake with his name on it. I told the staff to hang around because we were going to sing “Happy Birthday” to him. It was about 9 at night and everybody’s getting ready to leave and I come down with this birthday cake for him. We sang “Happy Birthday” and it was all “Make a wish! Blow out your candles! It’s your day!” We had a really good time. ... The next day he was at work and I was helping in the kitchen. I said “Did you have fun on your birthday?” And then he said, “You know, Jodi, that’s the first birthday cake I’d ever had.” It really took me back. I thought, everybody deserves to have a birthday cake. Everybody deserves to blow out birthday candles and make a wish. He’d never had that.
RM: Okay. I guess the Barbara Walters thing backfired on me.
JM: I know. I cry every time I tell that. It’s an easy story to cry about.
RM: I’m not crying. My eyes are watering from something else.
RM: Who do people say you look like?
JM [staring at me]: This wasn’t Kristy [Mintz] induced at all, was it?
RM: I can’t say. That’s why I asked it that way. It’s open-ended.
JM: There are a couple, actually. I used to be told that I looked and sounded like Laura Prepon, Donna from “That 70s Show.”
RM: That’s good. I’d buy that.
JM: I’ve also been told that I act like a certain insurance commercial lady [Flo from the Progressive commercials]. Random people, including Kristy, have told me that.
RM: Do you have any creative outlets?
JM: I try to be crafty. I’ve tried my hand at making wine and crocheting. I just recently attempted the banjo.
RM: How’s the banjo going?
JM: Well, I can play “Boil Them Cabbage Down” like nobody’s business.
RM: Honestly, I thought A Chair Affair [the annual fundraiser for the B&GC, slated for Feb. 25 this year] was a great idea to start, but I thought that after a few years it would start to wear thin. It’s not only lasted, it’s gotten even better.
JM: There’s a great story. Sharon Tuntland was the board member who brought it to the board at that time. I wasn’t here, but one of our board members said “You want to do what? It will never fly.” And last year was a record-breaking year for us.
RM: 47 times 2?
JM: 94.
RM: Yes.
JM: Just carry the one, if I’ve learned anything in life …
RM: Tell me about Stephany Osuji.
JM: I started mentoring her nine years ago. She’s a Boys & Girls Club kid. The birthday cake story is her brother. She is just a remarkable young lady that I’m blessed to have in my life.
RM: Do you still keep in touch?
JM: She’s at every one of our family functions. Adeline calls her Auntie Stephany. Stephany got a full ride scholarship to St. Thomas University.
RM: Is that all it takes, for these kids to get in with someone who cares?
JM: Yes. It is absolutely that simple. When Stephany started at the Club, her self-esteem was extremely low. She just needed somebody who cared.
RM: Is it more coddling or tough love or case-by-case?
JM: Case-by-case. I set very high expectations because I believe wherever you set the expectations kids will reach them.
RM: If you had to choose a guilty pleasure job, outside of this field, what would it be?
JM: I’d open up a shop with pretty things that make me feel good. I would play whatever music I want and put whatever I want on the shelves.
RM: Worst job you’ve ever had?
JM: My first job ever I was an attendant at a miniature golf course called Puttin’ To The Fifties. It was all 50s music, and every once in a while my friends would come and we’d slip in some heavy metal. But it didn’t have a bathroom, and I’d often be the only one there.
RM: That’s disturbing.
JM: It was disturbing. I’d have to call in relief to come watch the hut.
RM: You were named one of the Five People To Watch by the Post-Bulletin.
JM: Oh, yeah, I was.
RM: How is that?
JM: It’s interesting. Just like I asked you how I got the honor to be interviewed for this, I wonder how I got that honor. It’s great for the Boys & Girls Club. It highlights our mission. Any exposure we can bring to the Club and kids is great. Have people been watching me since then?
RM: Non-stop.