Sara Woodhull is a native Daytonian whose career has spanned over 40 years in the Miami Valley region. She spoke about her passion for major gift fundraising with WYSO's Jerry Kenney.
This interview transcript is lightly edited for length and clarity.
Kenney: Tell us a little bit about your job, if you don't mind.
Woodhull: Of course. I'm the major gift officer. I've actually been doing this for 20 years. I worked for two universities. And it's developing relationships with individuals or families who want to help WYSO in whatever way they can. And it is my job to try to figure out what that might be, what they're passionate about. And if I find out what they are passionate about and it matches something that we're doing at WYSO, you put it together and it's magic.
Kenney: What do they like about the station? What drives that passion for them?
Woodhull: Well, it's all over the map. But of course, for news right now, people want to get unbiased news. And they can get it here. And then music. People love music, but not everybody. That's why right now as a hybrid station, it really works. Some people like just news. And so at 11 o'clock, they go someplace else.
Kenney: Yeah, that's right and the music lovers can always tune in to Novophonic FM, and you mentioned that you've been steered in this direction for the last 20 years, not all of that with WYSO, you said two universities?
Woodhull: I was at the University of Dayton, and then I spent the most of my time at Wright State University doing the same work.
Kenney: And what drew you to this work?
Woodhull: That's an interesting question. It's a bit of a long answer, but I will shorten it. I was in banking, and I really wanted to leave what I was doing. I was now a loan officer. I worked for Treasury Management, relationship building part of the bank. And UD called me and said, would you be interested in this position? And I said, I don't know what you're talking about. And so we had lunch and they described the position and it sounded just wonderful to me and I really wanted to learn about it. I said, you're gonna have to teach me how to fundraise. They said, that's easy. He said, you bring some of the discipline of being in sales that major gift officers don't necessarily understand, like cold calling and reports and quotas and all that non-interesting stuff. And I just fell in love with it, and to watch people get really excited about something and find out what they are passionate about, it's really fun. It's just fun. It's doing something that they love to do.
Kenney: And you're obviously, I think, enjoy being out in the community from what I've seen over the years. Are you a Dayton native? Tell me a little bit about where you're from.
Woodhull: I'm from Dayton, Ohio.
Kenney: You never got far from home.
Woodhull: I did a lot of schools elsewhere yeah so, I did that but yeah I ended up here and I thought I'd never live here especially in my 20s.
Kenney: Sure, I think a lot of people go through that.
Woodhull: Yeah, so just a series of circumstances left me back here and I got a job and one thing led to another and I was doing different jobs. I was in manufacturing for a long time. So I've been all over the map as far as jobs.
Kenney: Yeah, same here. So let's move a little bit away from work and talk about any personal interests you have. Can you tell me a little about your family?
Woodhull: Sure. I'm one of four children. Both of my parents are gone now, but we have a brother here in town and I have a sister in Cincinnati and one who lives on the East Coast. And I'm married and I've one child who's married and has two beautiful grandchildren. Of course, they're beautiful. Aren't all grandchildren beautiful? And we have dog. She's a miniature Portuguese Water Dog. She's been in here, and she was actually on one of the spots. She barked on cue. When we had the cat and the dog war, Sarah and I did a little spot about cats and dogs and at the end I got Isabella to bark.
Kenney: Sarah Nilsson.
Woodhull: Sarah Nilsson, no relation to me. And I am an avid gardener, I love to garden, it's quite the disease.
Kenney: Nice, that was my actually next question. I know you're passionate about work, but gardening. Tell us a little bit more.
Woodhull: I love to garden, and I do have an extensive garden. It's mostly perennials and I share my plants with anybody who wants them.
Kenney: Okay, put me on that list.
Woodhull: Please because it's time to start thinning again, okay, yeah, I bought a little house by myself and I said I would never garden all the way around the house again. And this house had like three cactus bushes, and I pulled those out and I now have a garden all around the house, so...
Kenney: But if they're perennials, you know, it's a little less work than the annuals every year. But do you all, well, okay, you see, she's got a shocked look, and how dare you say that? So they are, just scratch my words there, they are a lot of work. Are you a hands on, you now, down in the dirt gardener?
Woodhull: I am. My husband, I come into the house, and he goes, ugh, head to foot dirt. But I love that. I love playing with my grandchildren. I love doing almost anything outside, like hikes and walks, and just to be in nature, it's very healing for me, like it is for most of us. So I love to do that.
Kenney: Anything that you'd like to tell our listeners, either about WYSO, or life philosophies, anything you want to kind of share with our audience.
Woodhull: It's interesting how I got to WYSO because I retired in April of 2019 from Wright State and I had never not worked since my early 20s. And so I took some months off and just did whatever I wanted to do. I literally woke up one morning and I realized that I love what I do and I can make a difference, and what I was tired of was the hours that I had because Wright State was in a campaign. I flew from New York to LA and covered Ohio. So, you know, sometimes it was 60-, 70-hour weeks and that's what I was retiring from. So now that I work part-time for WYSO, I can continue to do what I love and make a difference, I hope, for the station. And I think I am.
Kenney: Well, we believe you are. So that message, hang on to your passions and maybe just make a few adjustments to keep it going.
Woodhull: Yes.
Kenney: Well, and we're certainly glad you ended up with WYSO to share in all the good things that are going on, despite the challenges moving forward, and you're helping out with those challenges. So Sara Woodhull, major gift officer with WYSO and great to talk to you and get to know a little bit more about you.
Woodhull: Yeah, it's been good to talk to you. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
