Cristina Haworth Embraces New Challenges To Learn and Grow
March, 2021
Some may argue that great leaders are simply born that way, but others believe leaders are made from their experiences. Otak chooses the latter embracing the idea that any of their employees could learn the skills, face the challenges, and foster the relationships to grow into a leadership position.
Senior Planner, Cristina Haworth has been experiencing those growth opportunities within Otak’s Redmond office for the past seven years and relishes all that she has been able to do and accomplish in a relatively short time. She started as more of a technical professional completing tasks such as land use reviews, but says her work and responsibilities have greatly expanded which she credits to the support of her managers and the willingness of her co-workers to “put up with my learning experiences.” The wealth of new and interesting challenges she faces each day, keep her motivated and incredibly enthused about the work she does.
Cristina calls her decision to enter the field of planning a “happy accident.” She was working her way through the prerequisites she needed as a student in the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments and fell in love with an urban planning class. “I liked working in the built environment, but the broader scale of planning was really appealing,” she said.
Upon completion of graduate school, Cristina took a planning position in Fairbanks, Alaska. After ten cold and mostly dark months, she realized she wanted to return to Washington and leaned on a former professor and mentor to help her find her way back. She was introduced to Otak’s Mandi Roberts and Chad Weiser,(both Vice Presidents and Principals) in what she thought would be an informational interview, and she soon found herself employed.
Since her initial hiring, Cristina has worked on a variety of projects. Recently she wrapped up code amendments for Lake Forest Park that has been an ongoing project over several years, the completion of which she calls a huge milestone for Otak. One of the first projects she managed on her own was for the City of Bothell in amending their housing codes. This was one of her favorites as the City Council and Planning Commission were consistently looking for more housing units and flexibility to reduce parking requirements. One of the added provisions was to allow duplexes on corner lots in single-family zoning districts, which would help create more affordable housing options. As a result of her work, the City is considering allowing triplexes and fourplexes on corner lots and allowing duplexes on any single-family lot.
Early on, Cristina had a unique opportunity to learn the inner-workings of city planning. She was part of Otak’s on-call planning team where she would become a part of, or in some cases, the entire planning staff for a city that didn’t have staff available. For example, she worked for the development services director as the city planner for the City of Medina. “I had a workstation there and worked directly with design teams, property owners, applicants, residents, and other interested parties on what was happening in their neighborhoods. It was a great way to connect with the client and the community,” she said. She also said it was a great way to build business as co-workers’ comments around the watercooler about problems they faced gave her a chance to offer solutions. She said she never approached it as business development or marketing, but rather offering assistance to a client with a challenge.
Cristina has also been working with the City of Lynnwood to audit and provide guidance for an update of their comprehensive plan. “We’re providing recommendations for how they’ll incorporate equity and resilience throughout the plan. Currently, their plan doesn’t strongly consider social justice or diversity, but they are looking to make that a fundamental piece going forward,” she said. Both resilience and equity are priorities for Cristina who studied adaptability in the face of climate change as part of her graduate school work and has since come to recognize that every city needs to study resilience both in terms of natural disasters and social inequities.
The breadth and depth of Cristina’s skills provide an asset to Otak and its clients, and her ongoing willingness and ambition to constantly learn more put her on track to lead projects and teams at Otak for years to come.