Family: Chosen, Work or Biological … it’s all relative
This time of year always reminds me of family, whether it be a chosen family, work family, or biological family. We’re all readying for holiday travel, in a mad dash to wrap up fiscal paperwork, or hastily “completing” deliverables for the year. Regardless of our individual goals and plans, the season is all about togetherness. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t have made another rotation around the sun without my family - chosen or otherwise.
My name is Ruben Moya and I am the Director of Operations for Perch Advisors. My story begins at a gas station in a tiny New Mexico town. Growing up watching my family own and operate this small business ignited my passion for entrepreneurship and community activism. After venturing to NYC for business school, I began my career creating everything from marketing campaigns to large-scale events to community engagement projects for the Times Square Alliance. I later met Jeanette Nigro, Perch’s Founder, at the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. She hired me to manage the NYC Business Solutions Center helping entrepreneurs start, operate, and expand. From there, I spent five years managing retail client accounts at the global real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.
Throughout my 20 years of NYC residency, I feel extremely fortunate to have found a home in Queens, the most diverse borough in the world (by languages spoken per capita). Walking the streets is a daily reminder of the beauty that can come from celebrating who we are and where we come from. For me, that starts with my definitions of these familial archetypes:
My chosen family I define as a carefully, curated, collection of characters chosen to spend my precious time with. A cornucopia of humans bonded together either circumstantial or intentional.
My work family is, of course, my colleagues, clients and work I am extremely passionate about. In this environment, we still bicker with our teammates as we would our parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, or annoying cousins. We do it because we genuinely care about the work and one another.
My Native American and matriarchal culture believed firmly in passing down knowledge and truth through storytelling and would regularly sit around a table to break bread. We celebrated our individuality, encouraged growth and fiercely protected one another. This is ingrained in my approach at Perch Advisors to all aspects of the work, both for our team and for the clients and communities we serve.
Even as an avid traveler, I am still humbled by the breathtaking NYC neighborhoods I get to traverse with varying backgrounds all working together in symbiotic harmony. In the year I’ve been at Perch, we have been able to immerse ourselves in Bayside, Bay Ridge, North Brooklyn, North Flatbush Ave, Coney Island, and Cypress Hills using the lens of a local to better understand the needs of the community.
I will say that managing operations can be tricky at a time when our partners, clients, government agencies, or the like are either racing at full speed to the end of the year or have already activated their out-of-office messages (In most cases, mentally).
What I learned along the way is that we can only strive for progress, not perfection. We have to embrace being human and making mistakes. We also have to allow ourselves to feel comfortable with our surroundings to get things wrong first to create space to get them right. We manage these highs and lows because, at the core, we truly care about our community, and each other, like family.
This week marks my 1st Anniversary at Perch Advisors. I am honored to work with this indefatigable collection of human beings who are doing Herculean work every day. This is a time of reflection but also a time of excitement for the future and anticipation of what comes next. If you’re not part of the Perch Family yet, please reach out to us. We welcome all.