It was my honor to chat with Debby Weinstein, a little over two months before she transitions to retirement. A renowned, passionate West Virginia leader, Deb has served as CEO of the YWCA Charleston since July 1997. Her work with the YWCA began in 1983 when she spent a year as a residential advocate for battered women and children in the YWCA’s emergency shelter, Hope House. Debby devoted the next nine years to serving as the Director of the YWCA Sojourners Shelter for Homeless Women and Families. Deb left Charleston for family reasons in 1983 and after a four-year stint as the Executive Director of YWCA Missoula, she returned in June 1997 to assume the position that she holds today.

Debby has worked with numerous boards, coalitions, and committees to find solutions for such issues as racism, poverty, health care for the indigent, homelessness, elder abuse, and others. She is a graduate of The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.