Home Building: Q&A with La Fonda's Jenny Kimball

Jan. 7—The longer we live in Santa Fe, the more we take for granted. Many Santa Feans do not often think about the La Fonda Hotel, even though it has anchored the Santa Fe Plaza for over 100 years, since 1922 when the current building was constructed. (An Inn was first built on this corner by the Spaniards in 1607). And what about the folks who run the hotel and live and breathe its well-being? For almost 17 years, the person behind the mystery has been Jenny Kimball. Here, we speak to her.

How did you find yourself living in Santa Fe, of all the places in the world?

That's a longer story than we have space for, but basically, my parents were dear friends of Sam and Ethel Ballen, who owned La Fonda for almost 50 years. We often came to Santa Fe to visit them and stayed at La Fonda or at their home. After I finished law school in Texas and practiced law for a few years, I realized I wanted to live in a place where I could ski, hike, bike, ride my horse and experience the outdoors easily and without getting on a plane to enjoy the things that make me happy and that I love. The stunning blue skies, change of seasons, architecture, amazing art and creative community here, the diverse cultures and authentic cuisine are unparalleled, in my opinion. And after almost 35 years of living here, I have not regretted that decision one minute!

How do you stay so positive about Santa Fe? We have seen so much negativity lately, yet you are always so positive and always moving forward with new ideas.

Santa Fe is experiencing various challenges, just like all cities. To quote James Baldwin, "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." I find the best way to navigate the growth and the uncertainty that come with change is to focus on impacting the people closest to you in a positive way. For me, that means channeling my energy into helping create opportunities for La Fonda's greatest asset, our employees and their families.

Our owners have created La Fonda Foundation to support hourly wage workers in Santa Fe County and Northern New Mexico. In the long run, we hope to make a positive, systemic impact on hourly wage earners in our state, but we are starting local to first determine if the results of our programs are statistically significant. There are numerous ways to make an impact, whether it is assisting with housing issues, education assistance, financial literacy, providing second language resources, childcare help or the like. We are hoping to partner with other Santa Fe nonprofits to help provide services to these hourly wage employees in hopes of eliminating some of the barriers to their upward mobility.

In your position as the board chair of La Fonda on the Plaza, how do you deal with the afford-able housing situation for your employees?

Our new foundation contributed to the campaign to help pass the tax increase going into the affordable housing fund. As one of the largest private employers in the city, La Fonda believes that the best way to support our team is by providing competitive wages and stellar benefits, which we strive to do. In fact, this issue was one of the main influences on our decision to form La Fonda Foundation. Through the foundation, we can better assess and address the needs of our team and other minimum-wage workers in our industry.

From your vantage point at the 100-year-old historic La Fonda on the Plaza, an anchor on the Plaza, what are your ideas for making Santa Fe better?

Some decisions must be made as to what to do with the center of the plaza — maybe just keeping it open as a place to meet and dance, and putting the obelisk in a museum with more con-text makes the most sense. La Fonda has always been considered "Santa Fe's living room," where we welcome folks 24/7. We keep our doors open for all, encourage diverse conversations and afford a safe place for the exchange of creativity and ideas. I honestly think one way to improve on an already good thing is to encourage more folks to embrace the creative energy in Santa Fe. One way to do that is to have more live music. Live music at our La Fiesta Lounge has an amazing ability to cultivate open minds and foster a profound sense of community. I encourage every local to stop by and listen to local legend Bill Hearne belting out his iconic folk Americana music while his troop of diehard fans dance two-step all night long. If it were up to me, we'd book live local acts seven days a week, and I wish other venues would do the same.

Another way to do that [make Santa Fe better] is to make sure our creative folks are supported and can continue to sell their works at our art markets — like Indian Market, Spanish Market, the International Folk Art Market, the Recycle Santa Fe Art Festival — and support the many other great opportunities to buy and support our arts-and-culture community. I know every year some of these nonprofits struggle to keep their doors open, and to lose any would be a tragedy since this creative energy is one of the special, unique things that truly makes us the "City Different."

How has Santa Fe changed since you moved here?

On the not-so-good side, fewer dirt roads and more chain and big box stores. A bit more traffic. And like the rest of the country, more divisiveness and ugliness in the public dis-course. But there are many more good changes than bad. I am thrilled we now have a con-temporary art museum here. We now have an annual International Folk Art Market that draws thousands of people to meet and buy art from talented international artists. Our town has become a more recognized international destination for art, culture and cuisine. The community is at the forefront in all destination travel magazines. It attracts innovators and artists, entrepreneurs and retirees. There is something for everyone here. I truly believe that.

Saguna Severson graduated with a BA in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, College of Environmental Design. After going off to study architecture in Japan, she moved to Santa Fe and has never looked back. Working first for Santa Fe architects, she then went for an MA in Counseling Psychology, and is now the Marketing Director at Zachary and Sons Homes at: zacharyandsons.com