ANNOUNCING THE WOMAN OF THE MONTH

 Meet July’s Fort Worth Woman! While born in Dallas, Amy Duncan officially calls Fort Worth home as she is fully invested in improving our community. While she has held a myriad of leadership positions in the DFW Metroplex (where she has helped with multiple projects in multiple iconic locations of our city) she now finds herself at the Fort Worth Zoo as the Director of Capital projects.

To start, Amy recollects on her solid foundation found in her immediate family while growing up. She states, “My immediate family is made up of four, counting me. My steadfast and practical father grounded me. My eternally optimistic mother, who is still playing league basketball, supported and promoted me, and my older brother pushed me. So, there described, are my pillars – my roots, my wings and my-learn-to-fly or else.” From this foundation, Amy then used the entire Metroplex as her influence for her expansive career trajectory.

As she entered her first job at the age of 15, Amy learned quickly that she was a hard worker with a innate passion for serving others. She explains further, “I began my ‘career’ at Six Flags Over Texas. I worked fiercely and was rewarded with an elevated work ethic and life-long friends. It was at Six Flags a love of work and service to others was instilled in me, a desire to learn and to excel. While it was over 35 years ago and has fallen off my resume, I believe the Six Flags story of my being the youngest ever (at that time) Assistant Manager in the Food and Beverage Department (at the age of 15) and the youngest Food and Beverage Supervisor (at the age of 17) just may have been the reason I was hired for subsequent positions.”

Amy’s talents were quickly seen by leadership above her. She was then promoted past the manager position (in fact skipped it entirely) and was hired as the department Statistician for a full season. She describes this experience, “While I could not have declined the offer, I was a little saddened to be dressed up and sitting at a desk with all the ‘older’ people in what we will call the administrative offices. Oh, the things I learned from those ‘old’ people. They were my first professional mentors and will not ever be forgotten. I continued to learn to better value each as a gift, resource, and lesson as I have further learned everyone has a unique perspective, talent, knowledge and/or story that will contribute to my growth and ability to serve those with whom I work.”

Later graduating from the University of Texas at Arlington at age 21 with a BA in Public Relations and an English Minor, Amy found herself reaching back out to Six Flags hoping to secure a position. Amy states, “I informed the Assistant Director of Food and Beverage I wanted to stay at Six Flags and look toward a full-time, salaried position. He said, ‘no.’ He knew enough to push me from the nest and set me on a new path. I am grateful to this day. I started my first ‘real’ job in Dallas where I was an assistant at a production company. The only claim to fame I have from this brief chapter is that someone may have seen my elbow or watched me walking into a sunset with a few balloons as I was tasked with being an extra in several Frankie Avalon Sonic commercials. I quickly realized I was not in the right spot for me.”

Thanks to a friend who had once worked at Six Flags with Amy but then moved to the Fort Worth Zoo, Amy joined the team for the first time and began what she lovingly calls, “her first real job” in May of 1992. Between May of 1992 and July of 1995 Amy moved from part-time team member in the Food and Beverage Department to the Group Services and Events Manager. She describes this experience further, “I recall taking the phone calls, coordinating with the caterer, and sweeping the floors – always hopeful someone from the animal department might sign up to assist with set up and cleanup. The zoo has grown in leaps and bounds over the past 30 years thanks to our dedicated board and team members and the City at large.”

Before she moved her full circle back to the #1 Zoo in America, Amy worked at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History in two different rounds. From 1995 to 2000, she served as Director of Guest Services and then again from 2006 to 2019. Between these dates, she accepted a position with the Meadows Museum on the SMU Campus, pulling her back to Dallas. Amy states, “While serving the Meadows Museum, I took advantage of the opportunity to secure my MBA from SMU. Upon completing my degree, I worked with a bit of an outlier, very much not a non-profit organization, Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie, where I served as Director of Admissions and Sales for two years.”

Upon her return to the Museum of Science and History in 2006, Amy received a call as they were seeking a director of special projects. She describes this role as “extensive exhibit design, travel and logistics, and installation and led to the management of projects related to the razing of the old museum and our move out of and back into the new facility in 2009. My tenure at FWMSH culminated in my holding the position of Executive Vice President of Operations.”

Amy made the decision to depart the museum in 2019 and found herself fully immersed in the construction world at Tarrant Construction. Amy states, “we were creating a niche market for Tarrant Construction; providing specialty fixtures and furniture for Tarrant’s clients – including museum exhibits, work with the Fort Worth Zoo and the remodel and finish out of an airstream trailer. It was while working with Tarrant Construction I also served as project manager for several Cook Children’s clinic remodels. My personal learning curve was likely at its height while working with the Tarrant Construction Team. The work, given this curve, was humbling and extraordinarily rewarding.”

With a past full of having her hands literally invested in the foundations of our community, Amy made her final career shift in 2021 back to the Fort Worth Zoo as the Director of Capital Projects. Here she is able to use every skill she has acquired thus far. She describes the love not only for her job but for the people around her more fully, “I cannot share adequately the caliber of people who are now my community. I have come to realize the advantage of my role at the zoo is that it allows me to engage with all teams at the zoo. Loosely, I am charged with paying attention to detail, communicating respectfully with internal and external partners and ensuring projects fulfill the vision of the Zoo leadership and board. Specifically I get to work with internal and external designers, architects, and contractors to see an operation or capital project from vision and/or need to completion.”

The Fort Worth Zoo is known for it conservation efforts, thoughtful exhibits, and overall care for the animals with the newest exhibit, Predators of Asia & Africa, leaving visitors in awe. Described by Amy as a “superlative milestone for the Zoo and our city”, it’s easy to say that every part of this new exhibit is inspired, impressive, and full of thoughtful detail. The exhibit is expansive, the landscape is breathtaking, and the animals are quite obviously impressed with their new homes. Amy serves her job with overarching integrity and is one of the many reasons each of the small details have come together to create this full and powerful impact.

Her job is never done! Amy describes what is coming up next with the Fort Worth Zoo. “Current projects include a new ground-up Exploration and Learning Center, the complete remodel of Mountains and Desert in Texas Wild! (which will include a new home for Texas Nature Traders) and planning conceptual work related to Phase Four of A Wilder Vision, Forests and Jungles of the World.” With a background full of working with several nationally and internationally acclaimed architects, exhibit designers and general contractors Amy and her team won’t miss a single detail as these new exhibits come to fruition.

When reflecting on her love of our city, Amy describes how the Fort Worth difference. She states, “While I have great pride in my connections to Dallas (my father is a retired Dallas Police Officer), I love Fort Worth. Stories create connectivity and are an important ingredient in creating and sustaining a culture. I believe this holds true for organizations as well as for a city and it seems everyone in Fort Worth has a great story they are willing to share. While listening to a story of perseverance, success or opportunity in our city, you will also learn the storyteller knows your great aunt or your cousin, worked for your grandfather, or dated your best friend in college. I love that Fort Worth is a growing, vibrant and successful city built on hometown stories, very engaged supporters of our cultural treasures and larger-than-life individuals.”

Then there’s the Fort Worth Zoo. Amy describes, “My love for the zoo is greater now than when I was younger. Given the opportunity to work with several great organizations and teams in the Fort Worth / Dallas area, I come full circle not with comparison but certainly with perspective that finds me humbled and grateful for the opportunity to serve the myriad of teams at the zoo striving toward an elevated guest experience and dedicated to the care and conservation of animals. The words commitment and passion come to mind as I encounter each team member every day.”

When reflecting on her impact as a dream builder and difference maker in our community, Amy used the word, ‘grace’. She is someone who has a heart that is filled with service for others and in turn, the world. Each decision Amy makes, has others in mind. She beautifully states, “I believe one must give grace to receive it. It is wholly my intention to perpetually serve the zoo guests, board, leadership, team members and partners in design and construction with grace. If I can come to the end my day and reflect on my interactions with friends, peers and ‘strangers’ and know I showed up as the person I intend and want to be, then perhaps that is both carried forward and returned. As I continue to learn more about my role and expectations at the zoo, that grace, when returned, is invaluable. One’s community may, at any given time, be a classroom, an office, family, or a zoo. I perpetually find that being in service to one’s community provides the deepest reward and sense of fulfillment at the close of each day. If I have truly served and provided my best effort, then my mind is quiet and restful. If each person I work with and interact with feels and knows they have my attention, that I value their comments, questions and efforts, and that I will make every effort to respond and resolve, then I am in service and demonstrating grace. It is my hope this grace transcends my personal interactions and filters into our community-at-large.”

As a life-long learner, Amy challenges each of us to show up to the Fort Worth Zoo with purpose. She describes, “The next time you visit us at the Zoo, and you see a team member in uniform, encourage your child to ask a question. Every time I stop to attempt to answer one question, more questions arise, and the energy changes and the children begin to guide the conversation. I am hopeful this leads to interest in all the breadth and layers of wonder happening at the zoo, conservation at national and international levels, nutrition, research, and fun which leads to involvement which could lead them anywhere. In addition, there are a myriad of events hosted by the zoo annually. A few of my favorites (thus far) are the annual Zoo Run and Beastro. However, I feel the purchase of a Zoo Membership is great investment in supporting the Zoo and one’s overall sense of well-being. What better way to ‘get your steps in’ than immersing yourself in a safe and beautiful environment?”

With that said, plan your visit.
Ask the questions.
Allow wonder to take over.
Connect with those around you.
This is not only the goal of Amy and our Fort Worth Zoo but this is the epitome of living life well and with purpose.

‘I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can.’
-George Bernard Shaw