Celebrations, Reflections & More

Communications operations senior manager Brendan Weitzman (he/him) has been volunteering with Seattle Pride since 2013, but his role as staging manager for the Seattle Pride Parade is new. He’s now responsible for leading the team that organizes all parade participants as they arrive at the annual celebration in June, which includes recruiting and training volunteers, creating materials, and plenty of email correspondence.

2023 was Seattle’s largest Pride parade to date—there were more than 15,000 registered marching participants representing 267 contingents. Brendan organizes a team of at least 40 volunteers to get all the participating people, vehicles, and floats staged before the parade across 13 city blocks so they’re ready to march in the correct order.

To meet this need, Brendan must organize with his team well in advance. This requires juggling his Pride responsibilities against his daily responsibilities at Moss Adams, which often means working in the evenings or on the weekend. This year, Brendan was able to designate his personal GiveBack time, or paid volunteer time, to prepare for the event.

New pressure: “The Seattle Pride Parade is on a Sunday. Before I assumed a leadership role, I showed up Sunday morning to volunteer without taking time off.  Now my responsibilities have expanded, and in 2022 I wasn’t able to be as responsive as I wanted.”

New possibility: “Personal GiveBack time allowed me to block dedicated focus time for last-minute prep the Friday afternoon before the parade. It really saved me too! Even though I took the afternoon off, we were working until 8:30 p.m. to address last-minute logistics. If it wasn’t for GiveBack time allowing me to lean in sooner, we’d have likely been at it until after midnight.”

New opportunity: “I was excited when I saw the announcement about GiveBack time. A lot of great organizations have needs for volunteers during our core hours, so it will make it easier to consider saying yes to opportunities without worrying how to fit them in around our commitments to the firm or personal time off.”

New challenge: “I felt we already had a culture of giving back to our communities before personal GiveBack time came along, and this is one more tool in the box that expands when, where, and how I can give back to the communities and causes that matter to me. I intend to take advantage of my eight hours of GiveBack time each year—the same as I hate to let my personal time off go unused. I challenge everyone at Moss Adams to join me in this goal!”

Go Beyond the Desk

At Moss Adams, we believe in the power of possible to empower our clients and people to pursue success however they define it. Explore stories about our professionals, including their personal achievements, at our Beyond the Desk page.