Inslee's Chief Of Staff Leaves Politics To Make Art

Joby Shimomura says working for Gov. Jay Inslee “is like working for the mob.”

“You never leave the family,” said Shimomura, who recently stepped down as Inslee’s chief of staff after a 20-year career in politics. “They totally suck you back in.”

But she told KUOW’s Jeannie Yandel that it felt time to leave politics to pursue her other passion: creating stained-glass art.

She said those two pursuits aren’t as radically different as they might seem – mostly because of the processes involved.

She said the governor’s team would approach a tough issue knowing that to find the answer would require a lot of work and group effort.

“But we have confidence in that process, that at the end of it, we’re going to make a good decision,” she said. “Similarly in glass, I often don’t know what it’s going to look like in the end. I just have to trust the process and embrace the unknown.”