Chamber Director Hopes to Champion Local Businesses Through Meaningful Partnerships

Apr. 1—Cynthia Mudge wants to be an accessible champion for Twin Cities businesses as they recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, using her skills in creating partnerships to increase economic prosperity in her new capacity as the executive director of the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce.

March 21 was Mudge's first day in the position, a role she assumed following the recent resignation of director Alicia Fox, who held the position for 10 years.

Having grown up in Seattle, Mudge moved to the area a couple of years ago to help her father live out the rest of his days at the sheep farm her family owns.

Helping him through the long and hard tasks that hospice care demands, Mudge has had a trying time through the pandemic.

Re-entering her career after the personal hardships she endured is a refreshing change of pace that leaves her hopeful, she told The Chronicle.

"This job opening came at the right time," Mudge said. "I sort of felt like, 'I'm a human being again, I'm reemerging.' So that part's been exciting. ... My parents loved living here, especially my dad. If he were alive, he would be so happy that I am going to be doing this job. That part excited me. I get to learn, truly, why they loved this community so much."

Yet Mudge said she knows the pandemic years have been hard on everyone, noting that the business community has been hit especially hard.

"Really, the last two years, everyone — their lives have been in upheaval," Mudge said. "There's been a lot of change. ... Every business has had to deal with not just one change, but for a while there it was like every few days there were new things we had to adjust to."

She said 2020 was truly challenging in this way and said businesses are only now seeing the fruits of the resilience the pandemic inadvertently honed within them.

"I think everyone's coming out of this exhausted and a little bit spent," she said. "But I think also, everyone — especially businesses — are coming out of it with new skills, new survival skills, that forced them to be more creative with how they run their business. It's forced everyone to learn how to work outside the box because it disappeared. I mean, there is no box, so now what do we do?"

Mudge said she'll strive to be accessible and a point of contact to provide businesses with the resources they need to succeed.

Mudge will be facilitating a revamp of the chamber's website, which will include a new business directory, and eventually provide information on educational opportunities in the community and also a portal for folks to post their resumes to find work.