Mrs. Goldsworthy Goes to Sacramento

You’ve probably heard the big news (especially if you’ve read the front page) – Crescenta Valley Weekly was named Small Business of the Year for the state of California for the 43rd District.

Wow.

To say that I was excited when I found out would be a definite understatement. I actually screamed like a little child and jumped up and down (literally) when I received Assemblyman Mike Gatto’s phone message. For this “crazy lady” (as the assemblyman referred to me at the awards luncheon in Sacramento on Monday), the designation went a long way in validating every decision I’ve made since the day in 2009 when I decided to forego a new kitchen and start a newspaper (that self-funding had to come from somewhere).

Steve and I flew to Sacramento on Saturday to be on hand for Monday’s awards luncheon when I joined the honorees from the other districts in California. When it came time to stand beside Assemblyman Gatto while he outlined the accomplishments of the CV Weekly over the last few years, I was embarrassed (well, almost) when he told the hundreds of people in the room of how the paper has been, from day one, a reliable, non-partisan source of news for the Crescenta Valley and surrounding areas. The assemblyman reminded everyone that this was at the beginning of what became a great recession and (I had to chuckle to myself) when the death bell was ringing for print media.

But I always had an ace in the hole – the folks who live, work and love the Crescenta Valley. I know my neighbors and from day one I knew that they wanted to know what was going on in their neighborhoods, whether it was a sale, a burglary or a bear. I’ve always had faith that our readers would not only cheer us when we did something “right,” but also chastise us when we were wrong. I’m thankful that we were accurate far more than inaccurate (I hate writing those corrections).

And of course I have a staff that has been painstakingly assembled over the last three-plus years. There’s been a couple of times that my hiring choices were, to put it bluntly, stupid, and more than once I could be found at my desk with my head in my hands wondering how I was going to survive another week. But since the beginning I’ve prayed to be smart and brave, to recognize a closed door and not to waste time banging against it but instead to look for an open one. That philosophy might not line up well with a traditional business plan, but it’s taken me this far.

I’ve received some touching notes of congratulations since the news was released about our recognition and I’m thankful – I’m thankful to my family that has witnessed a changed mom and wife (and not always to their liking), to my friends who have stood by me and accepted the adjustment in my availability and have just been grateful for the time we’ve had together, and to my team that has stood by me (some since the beginning), willing to put their faith in the dream of this “crazy lady.”

And of course there’s the readers of the Crescenta Valley Weekly who each week wait for their community paper, who make sure to visit our advertisers, who plunk down $1 a week to have the paper delivered in their driveway (even though it can be found – for free – at so many places around town).

Though it was only I who stood next to Assemblyman Mike Gatto on Monday, I know it was all of us that made it possible for Crescenta Valley Weekly to be so richly recognized.

  robin goldsworthy