DULUTH – Former Duluth Mayor Emily Larson took a year off for “radical rest” after she lost an intense campaign for a third term in 2023.
“I’d been working since I was 15 years old,” she said, and the time off allowed her to decompress from the rigors of public office and do things like drive injured porcupines and turtles to Twin Cities recovery centers for an area rescue service.
But next week she begins her first job since leaving office, as CEO of the Family Partnership, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit more than a century old that focuses on anti-sex-trafficking work, outpatient mental health and developmental therapy for children, among other services.
“It feels like a really important time to prioritize places and organizations and people who are at risk,” Larson said. “The needs of people are only getting more intense.”
Larson said she worked with an executive coach for several months exploring potential climate, housing or women’s rights work, but a role with the Family Partnership, where she volunteered as a teen, felt like it was meant for her, calling it a “dream job.”
Larson, 51, worked as a social worker in Duluth for a dozen years, and then in organizational development for several years before becoming mayor in 2016.
Interim CEO Julie Bluhm said she was impressed with Larson’s ability to lead and transform an organization.
A mayor may not seem like the obvious choice, she said, but Larson was “hands-on in her leadership and there was integrity in everything that was coming out of her office.”
