There’s one word that comes to Victoria Gingrey’s mind when she thinks of the last ten months: connectedness.
Since March 2023, Victoria has led the Marketing and Communications Department of Kitsap Regional Library. Nearly everything that features the Library’s brand is something she almost certainly wrote, reviewed, or produced. Victoria is the one who takes what might be overwhelming projects and breaks them into manageable steps, guides conversations to give shape to amorphous ideas, and leads each step of the process, from drafting to publication, creating things like this year’s Summer Learning guide, Library Love bumper stickers, the present iteration of KRL.org, and the Library’s Passport to Explore.
For years, Kitsap Regional Library has sponsored emerging library leaders to participate in Leadership Kitsap’s signature program. “Victoria was a natural fit for this opportunity,” says Jeannie Allen, Director of Strategy & Communications for the Library. “In a relatively short time, she had developed a broad understanding of the Library’s services, operations, and strategic priorities, making her an effective connector both within the organization and in the community. Leadership Kitsap felt like the obvious next step to support her in expanding her knowledge and impact.”
After applying to the program last year, Victoria was among 30 up-and-coming Kitsap leaders chosen to join the 2026 cohort. The goal of Leadership Kitsap is to empower “community leaders to be educated, prepared, and engaged” by gathering professionals from across industries and businesses in the region, giving them monthly “challenge days” that highlight various facets and communities in Kitsap, and providing opportunities to understand how leaders work behind the scenes to improve the county, bringing back those lessons for the success and growth of each cohort member’s respective field.
Victoria said the program gave her the chance to make friends with people she might never have run into working behind the scenes at the Library. It cultivated “a better feeling of connectedness with my community, and gave me a better understanding of what’s going on.”
Community Impact
The program creates teams of cohort members who, over the course of eleven months, identify a community impact project to bolster and support the work of nonprofits in Kitsap.
Victoria’s team considered their team’s individual strengths and chose to work with Great Peninsula Conservancy. During the 2020 pandemic, the nonprofit saw their volunteer numbers decline sharply, and in the years following were struggling to bring on and retain new volunteers, so the Leadership Kitsap team decided to produce a video about one of Great Peninsula Conservancy’s trails, Clear Creek Trail.
“Our hope in creating the video was not only to promote the trail, but to encourage new volunteers to get involved with the care and maintenance of the trail,” said Victoria, adding simply: “so we did.”
After months of work, the team produced a high-resolution video showcasing the Clear Creek Trail and the work of Great Peninsula Conservancy. The video showcased the work of volunteers, explaining how volunteers are essential to the work of GPC, and offered ways for community members to support the trail system—all while weaving together beautiful footage of the trail, the keystone species that rely on it, and the volunteers who steward the ecosystem.
A Year of Connectedness
Over the course of nearly a year, Victoria’s team worked to support Great Peninsula Conservancy, attended monthly challenge days that showcased the foundational structures supporting Kitsap County, and, of course, continued to lead and work in their own industries.
“[Leadership Kitsap] made me more aware of different ways to be involved in our community,” said Victoria. “Specifically, when the government shutdown was occurring, and there was a high need for food. It helped clarify and crystallize the things I do really want to be a part of and care about—one of those being South Kitsap Helpline. I want to ensure they have the stock they need to meet my community’s needs.”
Jeannie, Victoria’s direct supervisor, says one of the most significant changes she’s observed in Victoria is her “understanding of the many systems, organizations, and leaders that shape life in Kitsap County.”
A Library's Delight
In early June, Victoria graduated from Leadership Kitsap in a warm, beautiful ceremony held at Kiana Lodge near Poulsbo.
“It has been a joy to watch Victoria’s perspective shift as she has navigated the program, and the experience is sure to have a lasting impact on her as a leader,” said Jeannie. “An impact that has already rippled outward to her team, and the Library as a whole.”
Most program participants are sponsored by their employers, and Jeannie says that, for the Library, this is an investment that has already proven highly valuable.
“Through the relationships she developed, we have been introduced to community organizations, initiatives, and networks that we may not have otherwise encountered. These connections have broadened our understanding of the community and opened the door to future collaboration,” said Jeannie.
Victoria said she was grateful that Jeannie and her team were able to manage the daily Library workload when the program demanded so much of her energy and time. While she’s glad to return her focus to managing Library communications, she’s planning to bring her expanded understanding of the connections working for Kitsap’s good into her Library work. “I’ve found gaining an understanding of how Leadership Kitsap works in partnership with our community to be really helpful and illuminating. As someone who’s always wanted to be really invested in the community I live in, I am so grateful for this experience.”
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