By Asia Nail
The Truth Reporter
For many people in northwest Ohio, the YWCA Milestones celebration shines as a symbol of impact, leadership and service to the community.
Each year, the event honors women whose work quietly shapes the region, leaders whose dedication leaves a lasting imprint on the arts, education, business, and beyond.
This year, Jennifer McCary, DODC, joins that legacy as the event’s Arts Honoree.
“It’s such a huge honor,” she says softly. “I don’t even know if there are words to describe how I feel.”
Gratitude runs quietly through McCary’s story. It shows up again and again across a career shaped by creativity, leadership and an unwavering commitment to people.
Where Art and Leadership Meet
Today, McCary serves as Chief Culture and Brand Experience Officer at the Toledo Museum of Art.
Her work reaches beyond strategy or branding. She helps create the emotional connection visitors feel when they step into the museum and encounter its collections. At the same time, she works behind the scenes, bringing departments together, encouraging collaboration and making sure the museum’s mission guides everyday decisions.
But before the executive titles and strategic plans, there was something simpler.
She was an artist.
“I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts,” she explains. “First and foremost, I am an artist.”
That creative spark never left.
Over time, she added new tools to her toolbox. She earned multiple degrees from Bowling Green State University, including a master’s degree in college student personnel and a doctorate in organization development and change.
Each degree expanded her perspective.
Art sharpened her ability to see the world differently. Education deepened her understanding of how people grow.
Leadership revealed how organizations change, and how culture shapes everything inside them.
Together, those experiences formed something rare: a leader who understands both creativity and systems.
So when the Toledo Museum of Art invited her to join the institution, the moment felt full circle.
“I get to work in a cultural icon,” she adds. “And I believe deeply in the mission of integrating art into the everyday lives of people.”
The Power of Communication and Collaboration
At the center of McCary’s leadership philosophy sits a simple truth.
Communication matters.
“Communication is at the heart of everything we do,” she says.
McCary jokes that she sometimes “has difficult conversations for a living.” But those conversations are often where real progress begins. When communication works, something shifts.
People begin to understand one another.
Barriers soften.
Ideas move.
Whether she is guiding organizational culture, supporting diversity initiatives, or strengthening staff engagement, McCary returns to the same focus: the human experience.
“It’s really about improving how people interact and connect,” she explains.
At the museum, collaboration stretches far beyond office walls. Partnerships link departments. They reach across the city. Sometimes even across the world.
Those relationships expand what the museum can offer, exhibitions, classes, conversations, community programming.
One conversation builds a bridge.
Another strengthens it.
Curiosity That Never Stops
Jennifer McCary often describes herself as a lifelong learner.
Even after reaching senior leadership roles in higher education, she returned to school to earn her doctorate.
“There’s always more that we can learn and do,” she shares.
But learning doesn’t just belong in the classroom.
It lives in everyday moments.
A conversation with someone you’ve never met. A fresh perspective from a colleague. A visitor seeing a painting for the very first time.
“People are fascinating,” she says with a smile. “And that keeps me curious.”
That curiosity shapes the work happening inside the museum. It helps guide decisions, what classes to offer, which exhibitions to highlight, how to invite new audiences into the space.
Understanding people, their questions, interests, and reactions, helps keep the museum vibrant.
Alive.
Relevant.
A Museum Entering a New Chapter
The Toledo Museum of Art has recently earned national recognition, being named both the Best Free Museum and the Best Museum in the United States for the second year in a row.
But McCary is already looking toward the future.
Right now, the museum is in the middle of its most comprehensive gallery reinstallation in nearly a century. The transformation will reshape how visitors move through the galleries and experience the artwork.
For long-time supporters, the changes may bring a little uncertainty.
For first-time visitors, the experience may feel entirely new.
“I’m excited to see how people react,” she admits. “Both the person who has never been here before and the person who already loves the museum.”
Creating Moments of Wonder
At the heart of McCary’s work sits a simple hope.
When someone walks through the museum doors, she wants them to feel welcome.
Nothing complicated.
Just welcome.
Then something else happens.
As visitors wander through the galleries, she hopes they pause. Look a little closer. Feel something unexpected.
“I want them to experience wonder and awe,” she emphasizes.
That quiet moment, when a painting stops you mid-step, or a sculpture sparks a new idea, is where art begins to do its work.
Like a spark catching dry wood.
Like a lantern suddenly glowing in the dark.
For Dr. Jennifer McCary, creating those moments isn’t simply her profession.
It’s her calling.
And as the Arts Honoree at the YWCA Milestones celebration, her work reminds the community that art doesn’t just hang on museum walls.
It lives in conversations.
It grows through collaboration.
And it shines brightest when it connects people to each other, and to the world around them.
Learn more about the YWCA Milestones celebration and this year’s honorees here