Abby Davisson specializes in driving social innovation through cross-sector partnerships. As a director at Gap Foundation, she is currently focused on scaling Gap Inc.’s youth employment program, This Way Ahead, which helps low-income teens and young adults gain life skills and early work experience at Old Navy, Gap, and Banana Republic stores.
Abby’s previous experience includes developing strategic partnerships for Tipping Point Community and advancing school reform efforts for the New York City Department of Education. Abby began her career as a nonprofit strategy consultant with The Bridgespan Group. Outside of work, Abby serves as the president of the board of the Infant Development Center of San Francisco; is a longtime volunteer with Year Up Bay Area; and has served as an alumni career advisor and coach at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Abby holds a BA in American Studies from Yale University and an MBA and MA in Education from Stanford University.
As a mother of two young sons, she makes good use of her employee discount at GapKids.
Show notes:
02:58 – Abby discusses her career journey and how each role helped her see how different sectors, corporate, public, and non-profit, create social impact.
08:58 – Abby explains how a class she took in grad school has been instrumental in how she and her husband managing work and family life.
12:18 – Abby shares how working with a coach was helpful as she and her husband make big career and child decisions.
16:16 – Abby explains the importance of getting the logistics right in order to have a smoother return to work after maternity leave.
21:12 – Abby shares the critical elements that are necessary to make having a big job while having kids possible.
27:25 – We learn how Abby overcomes her perfectionistic tendencies regarding work and how she’s become better at knowing where the bar needs to be.
33:24 – Brass Tacks— The lightning round of concrete advice and tips.
Quotable quotes:
- “Working parents are some of the most efficient people on the planet when it comes to getting their work done.”
- “It’s not a balancing but a juggle. There are always going to be multiple balls in the air and you are inevitably going to drop some balls. The trick is figuring out which balls are rubber and if you drop they bounce back up, and which ones are glass, and if you drop them they will break and be gone forever.”
- “Trust that things have a way of working themselves out and once you let go a little bit and stop holding so tightly to something that you think you really want, that’s when it really happens.”
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