Date: August 10, 2008
About: Holly Points Cain - Class of 1990

Working Women...with Holly Cain

Source: Quincy Herald-Whig
Author: Jamie Busen

No two days on the job are alike for Holly Cain.

That's exactly how the Quincy Area Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director likes it.

"My job is very diversified," Cain said from her new office in the historic Villa Kathrine. "This keeps my job very challenging, giving me the pleasure to assist and work with so many different groups and people throughout the work week."

Being a Quincy native "definitely helps" her with her job. She's been with the bureau for about nine years, having started 10 years ago as an event coordinator with the Oakley-Lindsay Center.

Cain calls herself an optimist.

"I can look at something in a bad light or see the positive that comes from it, and I'm an optimistic person," she said. "That's how I like to describe myself."


What is the best part about your job and what do you like least about your job?

The best part about my job is working in the tourism and travel industry. I enjoy working with the many different special events, meeting planners, tour operators and leisure visitors that come to Quincy each year. Each person has a different reason for visiting the area, and I have rarely met one that has been disappointed after visiting Quincy.

Least about my job: Many numerous tight state deadlines and grant reports, and not being able to adequately market the area with a wider variety of advertising mediums. As many not-for-profit agencies today, we are constantly trying to do more with less.


How do you balance having a family and a career?

Working parents do make a sacrifice. It requires a great deal of planning ahead, and being well organized, so that time with my children can be spent playing or doing things they want to do.

For example, I have often mowed our yard on a lunch hour, run numerous errands, or planned that evening's dinner during this hour time frame. I try to spend quality time with our children, even when I might be thinking about a large project to be done at work, or how messy the house is getting. I know my children will only be small for a short while, and the redundant chores of living will always be waiting for my attention, too.


What do you always want visitors to know about Quincy?

Quincy's most prominent feature is our architecture, and that is something I always mention to visitors. It is something they can enjoy free of charge and at any time of day or season.


What is the best piece of advice you've ever received?

My dad told me this advice not long ago: "Never say something you don't want repeated." He is a very loyal and honest person, whom I admire, so I really listen to his advice, and this advice is especially true in a smaller community, how stories can become exaggerated and then misinterpreted.


Is there a particular work ethic you follow?

I think I follow my parents' work ethic, especially my mother's. She is dedicated to her work, but it does not consume her life, she too enjoys volunteering and being a part of the community and our church, however she does work a lot on the weekends. The work ethic I follow is to make sure I follow through with promises made, and I am adamant about finishing all projects that I start, and returning phone calls!


Finish this sentence. It is a good day when....

It is a good day when my children are kind to each other in the morning, when I can see my husband for lunch, and when I can get to the gym for 45 minutes or take a walk with a friend in the evening.



-- jbusen@whig.com/221-3385