Des Moines Mom Movers & Shakers is an annual series celebrating local moms who are thinking outside the box and making a difference in the community through the businesses they own, organizations they are involved in, and the work they do. Check out the rest of the series and read profiles from previous years here.
Trina Flack was born and raised in Ankeny and lives there with her husband and three kids. She was recently promoted to President and CEO of Catch Des Moines.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family.
I’m an Ankeny girl – grew up here, went to Iowa State where I met my husband, Adam, and we now live in here in Ankeny with our three kids Natalie (18), Tyler (15), Emma (9). Adam is the director of marketing at the Iowa Events Center so between our jobs and kids, we are constantly on the go. We are in the thick of it – spending our evenings and weekends managing practices and activities and our weekends at the gym or field, and balancing everything from elementary school to our first high school graduate.
What do you consider the biggest challenge of motherhood to be? Biggest joy?
The biggest challenge of motherhood is the forever worry – am I doing a good job? Are my kids happy? Are they being good humans? Did I forget to put that practice on the calendar? Everything from the big worry to the little worry – just because it’s constant. My biggest joy is every stage. I’ve loved every stage (and am sad to see each stage go); from celebrating baby snuggles and first steps to how darn funny kids are and now seeing my teenagers interact with kids and adults and find things they love. Being in the moment is fun and seeing your kids turn into people is really cool.
What does your day look like as President & CEO of Catch Des Moines?
I’m brand new in my new role at Catch Des Moines, but I’ve been the Vice President of Sales for several years and at Catch Des Moines for 17 years. Every day is different – it can include meeting with people in the community about how to bring an event to town, or planning for a major event coming to town. It’s meeting internally with staff about sales and marketing efforts and exciting things like budget. And it’s being part of community conversations about destination development or the next big thing or concerns like safety or transportation that affect residents and visitors too.
What’s the best part about your job?
I get to be part of a lot of events, big and small. My favorite part is to see visitors in our community and see them enjoying our city. And with that, I get to see the impact that these visitors make on our restaurants and shops and businesses!
What has surprised you about your work?
Our community is unique – we can pick up the phone and get a meeting with almost anyone, or invite a group of leaders to a meeting and they’ll all show up. In talking to meeting planners, this doesn’t happen everywhere and is something special about our community.
What advice do you have for working moms?
Give yourself grace. Being a working mom is really hard – you have this constant feeling that you’re letting someone down either at home or at work. But if you look around, we’re all doing the same thing trying to make it all work – and moms are really understanding and willing to postpone that meeting, or understand if you show up late because we can all relate to the fact that you’ve already put in a whole day before you got to the office.
What do you love about raising a family in Des Moines?
We are so lucky to live in a community that has so many fun things – we get to give our kids the best experiences with festivals and food and attractions, and these are all affordable, accessible and safe. Our kids get to do whatever they have a passion for – music or theater or sports or science and I’m so proud of that!
Quick Takes:
Favorite local restaurant: Centro
Best place to take kids: Blank Park Zoo. I love that you can do the whole zoo in two hours and see so many animals up close and don’t have to do massive amounts of walking
Favorite summer activity: Tour of parks followed by ice cream – each of the cities has amazing parks – we build a list and try and hit them all, and then when we’re tired we stop at whatever local ice cream spot is close
How/where do you relax? My job involves events and people so I soak up quiet when I can get it – a cup of coffee wandering the aisles of target, a drink on my patio or an early morning run. My favorite time of the day is first thing in the morning when no one is awake and it’s so quiet.
If your life had a hashtag, what would it be? Too long for a hashtag probably but “No good stories come from everything going right.”
Know a Des Moines mom we should feature? Let us know! Email [email protected] with details and we will be in touch.
