By René Bogan -

“You can venture out and not be confined to a little world, and circumscribed to certain boundaries. You can do other things. I was willing to try different things at an early age and not be so concerned about appearances.” Elaine Ikoma Ko

Elaine Ikoma Ko, BA, 1975, has been a community builder for more than 30 years, working for a variety of important organizations such as The Inter*Im Community Development Association (ICDA), where she is the executive director (as of March 15, 2006). From 2002 to 2006, Ko was ICDA’s operations director. Before ICDA, Ko was a regional manager and vice president for Primerica.

Ko began her career in the late 1970s, in the private sector, where she focused on investment services. She was the founding director of the International District Housing Alliance and remained there until the early ’80s. After that, she moved to a government position where she was the director of the City of Seattle’s Office for Women’s Rights and also served as coordinator for the King County Women’s Program.

Ko’s community service includes volunteer work for several nonprofit organizations. She currently makes jewelry and provides beauty services for the graduating shelter participants of the Union Gospel Mission’s Women and Family Shelter.

Ko’s community involvement and passion for social justice began on the University of Washington campus in the early 1970s. She says “it was a very exciting time. I feel very fortunate to be able to go to University of Washington right out of high school. There was such a radical shift to the exposure to activism on the University of Washington campus — I was swept away by it all.” She urges students to be swept away today, too. “Today I encourage young people to be open, to pick up their passion and their causes, because that’s where the energy is and the idealism is.” In college, she used writing to express her ideas and raise awareness of social justice issues.

In her leadership role at ICDA and other community outreach organizations, Ko continues to write all the time and writing is central to her leadership and activism.

Bridging a leadership career with zeal can be tough. Ko says that, “to be able to find challenging careers that you are very passionate about is a great thing and I have been able to marry both. I have always wanted personal challenges, and I have always looked for a challenge, and you need both a personal challenge and passion to excel in any career.” Ko stresses that risk taking can be very challenging, but it’s also fulfilling.