Member Spotlight: Molly Zive, MSW Candidate from Region E–Assistant Regional Director

By S. Jolene Hui, MSW NASW-CA Membership Coordinator

Molly Zive said that she has, in a way, been a social worker all her life. She grew up with a desire to help others, starting with animals and eventually realizing she wanted to help her fellow humans, too.

 She’s an extremely enthusiastic social worker who was once named “best team player” and “most positive attitude” by a former employer. In addition, she’s a leader who is currently the assistant regional director for Region E–San Diego area.

After serving as membership coordinator for NASW-CA, she was nominated for assistant regional director and subsequently elected. Educationally, Zive will complete her MSW at USC next May where she is concentrating on community organization, policy and administration.

Although she has always had a social worker mind, Zive’s social work career path started in high school when she was exposed to vulnerable communities, mental illness and addiction. She completed her BA in human development at the University of California, San Diego. After college she worked at an acute dual diagnosis facility. About that experience she says, “It didn’t take long for me to realize the mental health system needs restructuring.”

The lack of person-in-environment care at that particular facility motivated her to pursue her MSW so that she could become an advocate in the future.

Zive enjoys working on a macro level and says that she has enjoyed meeting the number of people in the field and feels that through macro work she reaches a broader spectrum of people.

She says, “One of the most intriguing aspects of social work is the fact that professionally the options are limitless yet each option comes together to represent one thing: helping others.”

Her list of accomplishments includes completing her BA at UCSD and her acceptance into the USC MSW program. Managing her own symptoms of anxiety through counseling, yoga and meditation also tops her list. Another accomplishment is being the oldest sibling of two boys and two girls and setting a positive example for them.

Finally, creating and collaborating on a pre-release manual for California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation R.J. Donovan State Prison is something that has made her proud.

Zive says that NASW helped launch her social work career. She immediately signed up as a member upon starting grad school and then “utilized the website to navigate the different types of social work, employment opportunities and upcoming events.”

After that she worked as a membership coordinator for the chapter where she enjoyed representing NASW in the community. Of her current elected position she says, “I look forward to representing San Diego.”

In the future, Zive would like to eventually create a center for children to help teach happiness and support to regulate their emotions. She says, “Ideally, this would be a mind and body experience where children could express themselves freely and in healthy ways.”

For new social workers, Zive offers this advice: “Life is all about balance and it’s easy to lose sight of that in such a trying profession. It’s impossible to be in control at all times (because you’re human), so don’t try…”

S. Jolene Hui, MSW, is NASW-CA’s membership coordinator and can be reached at jhui@naswca.org.