The Honeydew Hustle: Madeline Jarvis

She manages the Marion Public Library’s adult and outreach services as part of their mission to be the friendliest library in the world. When she’s not working she’s volunteering, gardening, or canning endless salsa. In the remaining slivers of time, she wedding plans.

• career: Adult and Outreach services for the Marion Public Library. “I majored in Sustainable Community Development because I want to help communities thrive.”
• free time: I love gardening and canning. “I really love seed saving and food sovereignty. That drives me to can. Last year we did 60 pints of salsa for christmas gifts. It’s nice to work towards a tangible goal.”
• wedding planning tidbit: “It seems like as soon as you tell people you’re engaged, you have to start planning. When we were still celebrating, people would constantly ask ‘when?’ ‘where?’ ‘what are your colors?’…We were like…I DON’T KNOW! Wedding colors???”

What do you do for a living, and why?

I work at the Marion Public Library, specifically managing the Adult and Outreach services. Meaning I order, coordinate, supervise staff, and manage creation of new recreational services for our patrons.

I’ve always wanted to work in a library. I majored in sustainable community development because I want to help communities thrive. In this era where a lot of feel people discouraged, it’s nice to have a third space where people feel safe, no matter their background. Our library is not a quiet place like an academic library — it’s the center of our community.

We just redid our mission to have radical hospitality — to be the friendliest library in the world.

Ooh! How are you doing that?

We do senior programs in the morning— a lot of the questions we get are about basic computer navigation. Things we take for granted. Having the patience to help people use a mouse, even in 2018. We’re also helping a lot of people who are reentering the workforce.

Our library collection is patron-driven. We always keep our finger on the pulse of what people care about…as simple as making sure to have cookbooks with recipes for Instant Pots, since those are popular right now.

We coordinate after school programs for 3000 middle schoolers, since their school is two blocks away.

We make sure our collection is updated for the local business community.

I could go on!

What do you do in your free time?

My grandparents set a good example of giving back to your community, so I volunteer for the Chamber of Commerce.

Otherwise, I’m thrifting, traveling, gardening. I love seed saving and food sovereignty — the act of preserving and sharing. That drives me to can. Last year we did 60 pints of salsa for christmas gifts. It’s nice to work towards a tangible goal :)

Recent book you read?

Radical Candor by Kim Scott: Be a Kick-ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

How’d you get engaged?

Last November 2017 — we’d been together for two years and had just made dinner together. Chili cheese tater tots. We simply decided to have that conversation! The stone in my ring was from a family ring of his.

What do you think about wedding planning?

I thought it would be fun. I plan events as part of my job and have coordinated things with vendors. But once you add in the complexity of working with family, things get interesting. I thought people said it was difficult because they didn’t have background in events. But that is absolutely not why —there are so many tasks, dependencies, and emotions involved.

Reaching out to wedding vendors is stressful. I was personally irritated because Justin would email people and cc me, but the email response would only go to me (because I’m the woman.) It also feels like vendors are holding their cards close to their chest, when we just needed a clear answer. We didn’t want to spend two hours in a product pitch. We just wanted to know yes or no, does this work with our schedule and our budget?

It also feels like vendors are holding their cards close to their chest, when we just needed a clear answer. We didn’t want to spend two hours in a product pitch. We just wanted to know yes or no, does this work with our schedule and our budget?

It seems like as soon as you tell people you’re engaged, you have to start planning. When we were still celebrating, people would constantly ask ‘when?’ ‘where?’ ‘what are your colors?’…We were like…I DON’T KNOW! Wedding colors???

Follow Madeline on Twitter for her thoughts on reads, seeds, and other random topics :)

We’re featuring stories of amazing women in business, education, medicine, and tech for whom wedding planning is just one of many priorities in their life. Why? We don’t see enough stories highlighting the fact that women have lives and goals before they get engaged and continue to pursue these goals in parallel to wedding planning.

Check out Honeydew if this sounds like you!