Member Spotlight: Loving the reciprocity of timebanking

Princess Clemente helps people in all aspects of her life. She brings that passion to the SSTB, and looks forward to receiving help from others too!

A chance sighting of a Silver Spring Timebank flyer led to Princess Clemente becoming a member of the timebank in December 2017. The idea of a timebank intrigued her. Not only was this fortuitous for her, but it was a boon to the timebank because Princess used her graphic design skills to prepare the program sheet and signs for the recent timebank Skill Share in January.

Born in the Philippines, Princess came to the US at age four. She lived in New York and Illinois before settling in Silver Spring as an adult. Princess now works as a trainer for the Arlington County Department of Human Services primarily designing online training. In that capacity, she creates instructional aids, online modules and tutorials for staff from various divisions in the department.

Asked what she wished to do as she was growing up, Princess always said she wanted “to help people.” She has found her niche doing that, both in her job and as an active member of the timebank. Princess has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a graduate degree in training and development from the University of St. Francis in Joliet, IL. She studied psychology – not with the intention of becoming a professional psychologist, but to learn about people and to prepare for her career.

In addition to family, she credits her teachers for having a major influence on her life – in particular, one psychology professor in college. This teacher was really tough, but emphasized learning from mistakes.  Her mantra was that one does not really learn something until one demonstrates it in real life, i.e., making the changes necessary to improve after a mistake.

Moving to the DC area was exciting for Princess because she appreciates all the civic engagement here. She has been going to local political events and related activities. She also likes to travel and try new places, particularly restaurants, with her wife, Laura Muñoz Lopez, who is also a timebank member.  A favorite non-work interest is their two orange rescue cats, Marley and Barley. In her spare time, Princess plays tennis in two leagues. She previously played tennis in college and coached high school tennis.  

As a timebank member, Princess is available to teach tennis and to advise on graphic design or e-learning projects such as creating interactive PowerPoints. She looks forward to learning some new skills through the timebank, and she has already used the services of a timebank cat-sitter. She is “super-excited to be a part of the timebank community because it has the feeling of a close community and personal touch that one does not always find in a city environment.”

Thanks to SSTB member Donna Sasser for writing this Member Spotlight!