A Peek at Our Week

Take a glimpse behind the scenes, and meet our staff! The African American Museum of Iowa has a dedicated team of four full-time and four part-time staff. In each issue of the newsletter this year, we will be featuring different staff members and the work they do to help the museum fulfill its mission.

Name: LaNisha Cassell Title: Executive Director How long have you worked at the AAMI? 4 years What did you do last week? As the face of the Museum, I often engage in community conversations, interviews, and meetings with possible sponsors and supporters. My goal is to ensure the “voice” of the Museum is always present and to raise awareness about the educational resources we make available year-round. Museum life is surprisingly fast-paced, and my ability to multi-task and anticipate challenges is critical to accomplishing short and long-term goals. Last week, I spent most of my time on fundraising efforts and working on grant proposals. I led our biweekly team meeting and a committee meeting to start planning our 2020 Juneteenth event. I also covered a shift in the Museum store, approved invoices, processed incoming contributions, and stayed on top of emails with board members, colleagues and peers.

Name: Brianna Kim Title: Director of Operations How long have you worked at the AAMI? 6.5 years What did you do last week? Every week at the AAMI looks a little different! My job includes managing the museum’s financial records, and last week I worked on reconciling our bank accounts for the month of December. I also started the process of closing out our books for the 2019 fiscal year, prepared our weekly deposits, and worked on a grant report. I usually have a few meetings every week. Last week there was a planning committee meeting for our annual Juneteenth event and a regular team meeting. I represent the museum on the board of the Iowa Conservation & Preservation Consortium, and had a virtual board meeting last week as well. With such a small staff, we all wear many hats and help each other out. Last week, I helped replace emergency light batteries, reset the Hall for an event, and assisted with an oral history with two AAMI founders about the organization’s history!

Name: Lisa Buckman Title: Operations Coordinator How long have you worked at the AAMI? 8 months What did you do last week? Last week at the AAMI, most of my time was filled with sending thank you letters to all of our supporters who made donations to our annual appeal. As the Operations Coordinator, I manage our rental inquiries and contracts, and I responded to several clients who intend to hold events in our Aldeen Davis Celebration Hall this year. I worked on the year-end inventory of the the Nikee Museum Store and prepared my filing and organizing system for 2020. Several membership applications and renewals arrived over the new year so I logged those and created membership cards for delivery. A collection of bills were paid, as they are every couple weeks, and checks for rental payments, grants, and other donations were logged.