Cable Car Casey
It has been over 14 years since I took my oldest son on one of San Francisco’s iconic cable cars. He was two at the time. It was his first ride — and easily my twentieth.
What he didn’t know then was had it not been for a fateful meeting on a cable car many years earlier, he might not have been here at all. And no, this isn’t some “meet-cute” story about meeting my partner on a cable car (that happened thanks to basketball, not a vehicle that climbs steep hills using cables).
I’m talking about the day I took my mother on the most touristy thing possible as a week-old resident of San Francisco — a cable car ride — and we happened to sit next to another new transplant to the city.
Anyone who knows my mother knows she’ll strike up a conversation with anyone, anywhere, anytime. It’s both endearing and mildly exasperating — but in this case, it turned out to be life-changing. She noticed the woman next to us had a medical boot on her foot and, in true form, started chatting. Within minutes she’d asked how the woman was doing and somehow managed to tell my entire life story.
Between the crests and clangs of that first steep hill, we learned our cable car companion had just moved to San Francisco herself to lead the West Coast region of a global consulting firm. She was taking in the sights, resting her injured foot — and, thanks to my mother, learning more about me than I probably would have ever volunteered. Before long, my mother mentioned I was also new to the city and looking for a job.
When the woman asked what kind of work I was hoping to find, I finally jumped into the conversation (maybe a little too loudly over the screeching pulleys) exclaiming profoundly: “I want to help people — something in the nonprofit community!” [not my best networking moment - ha!]
To my surprise — and my mother’s delight — our companion said she’d just joined the board of the local United Way and, though she was still getting to know people there, she’d be happy to make an introduction.
I nearly swung off the side of the cable car in disbelief. Right place, right time — literally moving through a brand-new city where I knew no one — and suddenly, a door had opened.
True to her word, she delivered. We exchanged contact information before getting off the car, and I sent her my resume that very night, thanking her for taking a chance on a complete stranger. She introduced me to her United Way contact, and the rest, as they say, is herstory.
That single cable car connection led me to United Way, which led me to Raising a Reader, which led me to GreenLight Fund and now launching my own consulting business — a career now more than 20 years strong.
A couple of years after becoming “Cable Car Casey” (as my mentor affectionately dubbed me), I got engaged to my partner on a rainy San Francisco day in our tiny Inner Richmond apartment. Fast-forward to now: two amazing kids who also love cable cars — especially in San Francisco.
This story has always reminded me to:
Be open to new experiences (even the touristy ones).
Be open to new connections (especially in unexpected places).
Follow up, follow through, and when a door opens — leap through it (or off of it in the case of a cable car).
And don’t roll your eyes the next time your mom (or any loved one who loves to “spill the tea”) strikes up a conversation with a stranger.
You never know where — or who — that next ride might lead you to.