A conversation with Jamie DeAraujo, Arts and Events Manager.
Q: What do you really do at CLS?
A: I get to come up with fun things for the UCSF Community to do on our campuses. Often, it's things that I think would be fun. In the summer [Events Assistant] Annika Le hosted a Pride Silent Disco event, and that was based on something that I did during the pandemic with my friends. What I actually do is think of fun things that show everyone they are appreciated.
Q: What would you say is your favorite part of your job?
Events are a way for people to let go, even if it's just for a minute or 10 min and forget about the work that they have to get back to, and just have fun. Seeing someone enjoying themselves and letting their guard down, or just smiling, and goofing off, that is what makes events worth it for me.
Q: How long have you been working at UCSF?
A: This is my second round at UCSF. I started in 2020 in Community and Government Relations and the Communications Teams, and then came back and have been in this role two years on Halloween.
Q: What advice would you have for someone who's just starting out at UCSF
A: Finding the resources where you can connect with colleagues or find a mentor. What really helped me in the last year is leaning into this CLS mentorship program that Elicia Rozic [Assistant Director, Development, Training and Engagement] runs. I had the best mentor, Colette Ono-Ko [Senior Project Manager at Housing Services]. Our jobs are totally different, but she has a unique skill set and brain so working with her helped me figure out my “jumbledness”.
And not being afraid to ask questions. Even after being here for two years, there's still times that I just have no idea what's happening, and I have to muster the courage to ask questions and not be scared of looking naive.
Q: What do you do for yourself when you're not working? Where can we find you?
A: Eating…
Q: Nice plug for Jamie Eats….
A: Definitely.
I have a pretty big family. I have three sisters, and my grandparents lived a block and a half from me growing up before they passed. We'd always have dinner with them once a week, and so I feel like family meals and family gatherings are always what I enjoy doing. And I'm slowly getting back into playing soccer again. Soccer has been a large part of my life. My dad's from Brazil. So, I grew up playing soccer. I stopped playing when I was like 21 weeks pregnant. And now I just played my 1st game last week. I was very slow, but it was so fun.
Q: I'd love to follow up and just learn a little bit more about your soccer experience.
A: I went to San Diego State for a year and a half, and I was playing club soccer down there and I really enjoyed it and wanted to bump it up to a slightly more competitive level. I transferred to University of San Francisco (USF) and walked onto the team, and I played there for the rest of my two and a half years of college. Shortly after college, I had a friend who was going to go play professionally in Sweden, and she said the team needed a couple more players. And so then the next day the manager called me and asked if I wanted to come out and play for the team in Sweden: IFK Gävle. I flew out a week later.
I ended up playing over there for about a year and a half - it was awesome. So much fun! But at that time, you just didn't make that much money playing soccer professionally and I was also starting to feel my age. I didn't want to go out because of an injury and so I realized it was better for me to call it before I had to have some sort of surgery again.
Q: Can you tell me one or two things that were especially memorable about that time living in Sweden?
A: My favorite part, and what continues to be my favorite part of playing soccer, are the people you play with. One of my former teammates [Jackie Bachteler] is now a coach of the San Diego Wave. I obviously don't see [my old teammates] every single day like I used to, but when we do connect it's like no time has passed. We reminisce about the games we lost or the games we won, or whatever debauchery we got ourselves into at the time in our early twenties.
Q: Anything else you want to add?
A: What’s great about working for CLS specifically is that it often doesn't feel like a job. Between Jamie Eats and then getting to plan appreciation events, I feel like I really found the place that I was meant to be – the jackpot of jobs if you will.
I feel very fortunate to have landed where I've landed and to be surrounded by the people that I'm surrounded by, like my boss, Jen Dowd-Kim. She's the best - she not only cares about the work that I do and the quality that I produce, but about me as a human with a child and family. She's been really, really great and supportive of me and my growth personally and professionally.
“I have the best job, and I genuinely want everyone at UCSF to feel the same way I do about their own respective roles. My hope is that through our events we can provide that same warm and fuzzy feeling for people – making their lives better here.”