Finding Our Moment That Changed Everything
What do you do when you’ve fought hard to secure housing in the face of great challenges, only to have a landlord’s “no pets” policy threaten to tear apart a most important relationship?
For Christine Kim, Executive Director and founder of My Dog Is My Home, that moment working as a case worker on Los Angeles’ Skid Row wasn’t just another crisis to address — it revealed a calling that would shape her life and impact thousands of families across the country.
Christine and her client won that fight, keeping pup and person together. And that moment sparked Christine’s unwavering dedication to ensure that pets and their people can stay together, even in the face of housing instability.
This past month, I had the opportunity to spend a few days with this extraordinary leader. Her story and approach to leadership left me both humbled and inspired, reminding me of the profound impact we can have when we align our work with our deepest values.
Christine embodies thoughtful leadership. When she first started My Dog Is My Home, she traveled around the U.S. doing outreach, education and advocacy about keeping people and pets together. Operating on an extremely tight budget, she traveled and slept in her car, growing the organization through sheer determination and vision into what it is today.
During her recent visit to my home city of Minneapolis, Christine invited me to participate in a site visit with a fellowship recipient—a major nonprofit housing organization here in Minnesota. As I toured the facility and learned about the comprehensive support systems My Dog Is My Home has helped implement to keep people and pets together, I was struck by the enormous impact of her organization.
My Dog Is My Home has been a valued community partner of ours for several years, and what a cool partnership! I’ve been continually inspired by Christine’s openness to learn, her willingness to do what it takes to achieve her vision, and her ability to do it all with such genuine care.
Christine has a remarkable gift for engaging people. She’s so genuinely excited about the mission that it’s impossible not to want to be a part of the work. Recently, I participated in a storytelling workshop they were conducting, which brought me back to my theater days in college and allowed me to hear stories of people who have truly benefited from My Dog Is My Home’s work—individuals who have faced challenges beyond what most of us could even comprehend, yet overcome them with remarkable strength and resilience.
My time with Christine during her visit to Minneapolis has reenergized and re-inspired me. It has reminded me to continue focusing on our organization’s core values of community, service, openness, integrity, and growth. More importantly, it has shown me the kind of impact we can have when we come together as an organization—impact that is clear in the work our association clients accomplish.
I am grateful for Christine and for all of our nonprofit and association board leaders and management team members who dedicate themselves to making a difference in their communities. Leaders like Christine remind us that transformative change often begins with one person who refuses to accept the status quo and has the courage to act on their convictions.
The next time you encounter a challenge that seems insurmountable, I encourage you to think of Christine sleeping in her car, driven by a vision of keeping families—all families, including those with four-legged members—together. Sometimes the most important work begins not with a grand plan or abundant resources, but with an unwavering commitment to doing what is right.
About MHQ
Driven by the vision of a thriving, vibrant community, MHQ is a woman-owned, world-class management company that delivers customized services. Founded in 2013, MHQ has provided association management services since its inception, as well as infrastructure to organizations in a range of industries. We serve professional and trade associations, as well as government and public sector entities. For more about MHQ, visit https://www.management-hq.com/.
