Robin Miner Swartz

Interactive website aids wetland management, protection and restoration

Enthusiasm is underrated. People who don’t – or can’t, or refuse to – get excited about things frustrate me. How can you go through life feeling ho-hum and blasé about the world around you all the time?

I often tell people I love my job. It’s true. I do. What I don’t tell them is I’ve had a better one. I was a counselor at Mystic Lake YMCA Camp for three summers. Without question, it’s directly responsible for who I am today.

When we think of nonprofits, we often think of them helping people or working for causes that improve our quality of life but are difficult to monetize. And usually, it’s their work and their cause that inspire us to give. What’s often not mentioned, however, is just how much Michigan’s nonprofit sector also contributes to our economic well-being.

When I'm asked why I love Lansing as much as I do, I tell people it's because the city is the perfect size for having a big idea and making it a reality. All you need are some enthusiastic friends, a few favors, a whole lot of planning and just the right amount of social media promotion.

According to my parents, I’m the daughter of a Reform Jewish mom from Brooklyn and a nondenominational Christian dad from Battle Creek.

I’ve been thinking a lot about death lately. No one’s, specifically. But in the past couple of years, we’ve lost a number of people in our lives – many of them too young.

I’ve done a handful of things in my life that made me think, “I’m an adult now” — you know, the usual milestones.

I sent a thank-you note to my therapist last week. I hadn’t seen her in more than a decade, but recently found myself reflecting on my time with her.

I’m experiencing a bit of anxiety as the calendar flips to December this year.

Christmas 2009 was shaping up to be a sad one. My partner’s mom died of ovarian cancer in June of that year.

Black Friday is looming. So is Cyber Monday. The retail industry has done a bang-up job of getting us to open our wallets post-Thanksgiving ...

How are those New Year’s resolutions going? If you made the most common one – to exercise more – we have reached the time of year when our collective resolve starts to waiver.

It was a particularly vulnerable time in my life. I was in the throes of a job search – something that would result in a career change after nearly two decades – and I was scared of all the unknowns associated with it.