Sun, sand and surf
Meet Rosslyn BID President Mary-Claire Burick
Mary-Claire Burick joined the Rosslyn BID in September 2013. A longtime resident of Arlington, Mary-Claire was born in Florida and grew up in Maryland. She graduated from the University of Delaware with a bachelor's degree in Communications.
Rosslynva.org: What does your perfect day look like?
Mary-Claire Burick: I'd start by taking Lucy, my Yorkie, for a walk, and then have a nice long day on the boat with my husband, Greg, that involves paddleboarding, sun and friends. Lucy loves being on the water and on the paddleboard with me. She's 7 years old and an adorable 5 pounds, so she gets attention wherever we go!
Rosslynva.org: That sounds great. We know you love going out on the boat.
MCB: Yes, the water's my happy place. No question! If the sun is out, we are out on the boat all day. 85 degrees is the perfect weather. We’ll pack a cooler and stop at different places. Sometimes we pull up on the beach or raft up with our boating friends. Or we’ll go to Tim’s Rivershore or Cantina Marina and get crabs or food. On the way back, we’ll catch the sunset. If we still have energy, we cook when we get home. My husband is a grill master. He has quite the set-up, with two Big Green Eggs and a regular grill. He’ll grill and we’ll sit out, enjoy wine and eat in the backyard.
Rosslynva.org: Do you know how to drive the boat?
MCB: I knew how to drive our previous boat, but this one is quite a bit bigger with twin engines, so I leave the driving to Greg! Greg was always a fisherman and grew up fishing. When I took the job in Rosslyn so close to the Potomac, he got a fishing boat, and we ended up loving it. That’s how I first got into boating. Eventually we upgraded to a boat that had more space. We like to bass fish. I’ve actually caught some pretty nice ones! Greg is going to teach me to rockfish on the Bay this summer, and I'm looking forward to it.
Rosslynva.org: What do you like best about your job?
MCB: What I like best about my job is the sense of satisfaction I get at seeing a lot of different things all coming together to produce a positive outcome. We work in a complex environment, so seeing positive change happen is really gratifying to me. This is also what makes the job challenging. We have so many diverse stakeholders who all want and need different things at the same time. When we can get everything organized and everyone working together, we get a great outcome. Of course, liking my job is also about the people. It needs to be fun. I spend a lot of time at work – we all do – so it needs to be fun and rewarding. The people are the real value in it.
Rosslynva.org: What are you good at?
MCB: (Laughs) Wrangling people and herding cats! Seriously, though, I’m good at taking divergent ideas and thoughts and putting them together in ways that haven’t been done before so that there's a unique outcome. I enjoy building relationships with people, and helping get the right people, in the right roles, with the right resources. When you do that, people are happy to work toward a common goal.
Rosslynva.org: What’s your fondest memory from childhood?
MCB: Family trips to Nags Head. I loved the beach and the water. We always rented a house with family friends. Both families were huge, so it was a really fun week.
Rosslynva.org: Anything else we should know about you?
MCB: I love to be outside, and I love to do anything active like paddleboarding or hiking with Greg and Lucy. We love going to Turkey Run Park [near the G.W. Parkway] to hike. It’s amazing! You find yourself in the woods, right on the water, and it’s beautiful. And if you like hiking I also recommend the Billy Goat Trail [on the C&O Canal]. Before boating entered my life we used to do that one all the time. That is an amazing hike in summer and autumn.
Mary-Claire's Favorites
Musician: Jason Aldean. One of my favorite experiences was an up-close concert with him. He was amazing live!
TV show: I’m always "on" all day, so when I watch TV, it’s specifically to unplug. A glass of wine and mindless TV is a night that I really enjoy. TGIT is my favorite day of the week! I just found a new show called "Below Deck," which I love. It's a reality show about the crew members on luxury boats. I also love "Grey’s Anatomy," "Real Housewives of Potomac" and "Scandal."
Sports team: I grew up watching the Redskins. I’m a die-hard fan, which sometimes isn’t easy with our team! Lucy actually has a tiny jersey with the number "00" on it.