Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
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photography by christopher devargas desert patrol aiming high IMPROVE EDUCATION IN OUR STATE. by dorothy cascerceri IN HER NEW ROLE AT UNITED WAY OF SOUTHERN NEVADA, JOSELYN COUSINS IS HELPING ACHIEVE UWSN'S AMBITIOUS FUNDRAISING GOAL TO W InsIght Guilty pleasure: "Ordering from Papa John's, because that's the only pizza my daughter will eat." Hobby: "Running five miles three or four times a week. My knees are bad, but that's how I'm able to eat pizza." henever Joselyn Cousins mentions her five-year-old daughter and smiles proudly, it's clear why she's so dedicated to her role as vice president of community development for United Way of Southern Nevada. "I work hard to give my daughter every opportunity so she can be success- ful," Cousins says. "I want every child to have those opportunities as well." After 15 years in the for-profit sector, most recently as a senior vice presi- dent and manager of community development at the Bank of Nevada, Cousins crossed over into the nonprofit world last fall. Her number-one pri- ority is to improve education in a state with a high school dropout rate of 40 to 50 percent—the highest in the nation. "The ultimate mission of United Way is to increase the high school graduation rate," she says. "All of our programs are geared toward impacting that. If we can't educate our youth, how can they have a positive and productive future?" Cousins has a deep well of contacts and valuable experi- ence from spending the previous seven years as a volunteer (including three years as co-chair) for United Way's financial stability partnership council, where she led an education ini- tiative to provide financial literacy instruction for students in the Clark County School District. "There's so much work to be done in the community," she says. "If we can be a leader of great initiatives in the valley, I wanted to help with that." And she's in it for the long haul: "Once you're in, you're in for life because you develop a pas- sion for the work you do," she says. "You realize the work you do impacts the community." Cousins, who moved to Nevada from Southern California in 1993, says she fell in love with Las Vegas the first time she visited. "So many people were moving here from different places," she says. "There was a great mixture of different people and different opportunities. It was so new and refreshing." Now firmly rooted here, Cousins is grateful to be work- ing full-time to try to help Nevada's children succeed. "Children and youth are important to me," she says. "My parents told me as a child that I could do and be anything that I wanted to be, and that's how I've lived my life. I've always felt so lucky that my parents instilled that lesson in me at such a young age, and I believe every child should hear that, whether from a parent, a mentor, or a teacher." United Way's efforts toward reaching its ambitious 2011–2012 fundraising goal of $13 million will be celebrated during the organization's Campaign Finale in May. To get involved, go to uwsn.org V 60 vegasmagazine.com