Beach Pace doesnât like isolation. Her entire career has been about being around people: at West Point, in the army, as CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest since 2016, and on the Hillsboro City Council, to which she was elected in 2018. The private sector recruited her out of the military, promising more money and an environment free of the sexism sheâd experienced in the armed forces. She spent nine years as regional manager for a pharmaceutical company, but the companyâs conservative environment felt like Donât Ask Donât Tell all over again, says Pace, who is now married to fellow West Point grad and Hillsboro Police Sgt. Jincy Pace. So she pivoted to what she calls âsocial change work.â A self-described extrovert, Pace says leading in a pandemic has been a struggleâbut her staff and colleagues have helped her rise to the occasion.Â