CORO

Alumni Spotlight

Beth Flores, FPPA 1999
Beth Fllores

 

I discovered Coro in a bookstore in Phoenix, Arizona. I had just returned home after two years guiding bicycle trips in the U.S. and Mexico. Working internationally opened my eyes to the complex relationship between government and its citizens, and I wanted to understand political systems and civic engagement more fully. Luckily for me, I found Coro in a book about America’s Top 100 Internships. It sounded perfect.

Coro has played a more prominent role in my professional and personal lives than I ever imagined; its role – and its value – has increased over time. Initially, Coro introduced me to my first post-Coro employer, the Institute for the Future. Second, it gave me the gift of lifelong friendships with my fellow Corons. And perhaps most unexpectedly, Coro has been a consistent voice in my head that checks my assumptions, prompts me to use questions as a primary tool of inquiry, reminds me that the map is not the territory, and teaches me – time and time again – that all work gets done in relationships. For example, I’m certain that Coro was a factor in my decision to deploy to Afghanistan in 2005 as a civilian within the military command structure. After all, how, as a Defense Department bureaucrat, would I ever know what is going on if I didn’t observe military operations firsthand?

If I have had successes in life, it is because I employed these simple yet revolutionary tools at some point along the way. And these tools and mental models, as a result, opened my mind rather than closed it around a particular challenge or opportunity.

I stay involved with Coro to remain connected with a community – and a way of approaching the world – that has been so valuable to me over the years. But perhaps there is also something nostalgic about my strong connection to Coro. I completed Coro at a time in my life when it seemed anything was possible. I was just starting out in my professional career, and I was living and working in Silicon Valley at the height of the dot.com boom. The world feels somewhat different now – perhaps it is or maybe I have changed – so I stay connected to sustain optimism about the future.    Coro is arguably more needed now than it ever was. As financial pressures force public leaders and individual citizens to make tough decisions, it will become too easy for communities to default to defensive or small-minded solutions. We need the kind of leaders that Coro grows to engage and empower communities to solve the sticky problems we face.

Beth Flores (bflores@aya.yale.edu) entered the federal civil service through the Presidential Management Fellows program in 2004. She currently serves in the Pentagon as Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.   She hasn’t stopped biking and recently completed a two-wheeled journey across Italy. Beth is looking for new opportunities at the intersection of international affairs, public service, and innovation and would love to connect with fellow innovation insurgents in the Coro community.



View previously featured Alumni:

Jimmy Yung - Alumni Spotlight, July 2011
Craig McMicken - Alumni Spotlight, December 2010

Jason Molina - Alumni Spotlight, September 2010

Karrie Tam - Alumni Spotlight, July 2010
Malia Cohen - Alumni Spotlight, May 2010
Abel Guillen - Alumni Spotlight, February 2010
Godfrey Wilson - Alumni Spotlight, November 2009
1980 Womens Silicon Valley Leadership Class
Libby Schaaf - Alumni Spotlight, August 2008
Pamela Cook - Alumni Spotlight, May 2008
Jovida Guevara-Ross - Alumni Spotlight, February 2008
Laney Whitcanack - Alumni Spotlight, December 2007
Ratna Amin - Alumni Spotlight, December 2007
Phillip Kilbridge - Alumni Spotlight, October 2007