Tea Time: Meet Jacqueline Rutherfurd

The newest Kindred Tea Time interview is with Jacque Rutherfurd – our magical, practical, reliable and always delightful operations manager. 

Name a book you loved as a kid. Is there a line or character you remember?

We read a lot of Tomi Ungerer books when I was younger; they are very much in line with my dad’s dark sense of humor. The line I remember is “Never mind the hat, caro mio. I should like to get there by sunrise.” It became our favorite family saying if we were trying to get somewhere and somebody had forgotten something important. “Never mind the hat, caro mio!” Those books were really fun and quite dark, with ogres eating kids and that sort of thing.

What did you last read? Thumbs up or down?

We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida. It’s set in San Francisco and I give it a thumbs up!

In your next life you can be a lion, a tiger or a bear. Which do you choose and why?

Tiger. I like where they live. Mostly in the jungle where it’s a bit tropical and maybe there's a pool where I can go swimming.  I think I would like to be surrounded by those types of plants and be where it’s more humid and less desert-y. Though I could really get behind hibernation, so Bear would be a close second.

What is something you learned from a parent that turned out to be wise?

Oh, lots of things! If I’m picking one, from my mom I learned the importance of really investing in what you do. Like, if you can't get out of something then really get into it. Become passionate and turn on that kind of fire – even for things that could be mundane. If you get into it, then your work performance and your fulfillment will be so much greater.

There’s a new interior paint color based on you and your life. What’s its name and why?

That’s so hard! I feel like it could be a seashell color, or some type of serene, perfect white, but I also wish it was some amazing rusty orange or dark green. Right now, I'm looking for a paint color for my fence and I really like the blue of my passport. I want to take my passport to the paint store and have them match it. So, Passport Blue it is.

What in the world gives you hope?

People give me hope. I’m realizing that a lot of people are much more soft, emotionally attuned and caring than they let on. Like when you’re onboarding for a job or transferring from one school to another. Those processes are so complex and daunting. You’re often dealing with a person on the other end who’s looking things over. And, honestly, many of those people are much more understanding and caring than you might think. That gives me hope.

It’s teatime. What’s your order?

I think immediately of some combination of cheese and fruit. Brie and a jam. Or tea sandwiches with cream cheese and strawberry jam. Or apples and cheese. And although I pretty much only drink water, maybe I’d have a cup of Earl Grey tea.