Community Building in the Washington, DC area!!

SFP Editor: What is the process of becoming a guide? Terry Cordaro: We have about a dozen or so guides in the company but there are tour guiding companies all over town. Nearly all pay but the amounts vary. Prospective guides for Washington Walks give a short presentation of a historic site in the city for the company's owner and 2-3 current guides. Once hired, there's a day-long orientation for all guides to meet (the irony is, we're all so busy working during the season that we almost never have time to socialize with each other). There is an exam about historic sites in DC to grant the required tour guiding license. For each tour a guide leads (I lead three), this requires lots of memorization and practice; giving a two hour tour from memory is very intimidating at first

SFP Editor: How did you get involved in Washington Walks?

Terry Cordaro: I heard about the company through Cultural Tourism DC's weekly events calendar and tried out in winter 2008 and began last spring.

SFP Editor: What is the process of becoming a guide?

Terry Cordaro: We have about a dozen or so guides in the company but there are tour guiding companies all over town. Nearly all pay but the amounts vary. Prospective guides for Washington Walks give a short presentation of a historic site in the city for the company's owner and 2-3 current guides. Once hired, there's a day-long orientation for all guides to meet (the irony is, we're all so busy working during the season that we almost never have time to socialize with each other). There is an exam about historic sites in DC to grant the required tour guiding license. For each tour a guide leads (I lead three), this requires lots of memorization and practice; giving a two hour tour from memory is very intimidating at first. As there is no formal training, most of us shadowed more experienced company guides and we gave practice tours to patient friends and loved ones in exchange for dinner. With Washington Walks, as soon as a guide is comfortable giving a tour, he or she starts. Some companies require guides to train for months or even a year--with Washington Walks if one is motivated one can start within about 4-6 weeks of the start of the season and guides can give as many or as few tours as they like.

SFP Editor: What is the favorite tour?

Terry Cordaro: Embassy Row. It tells the story of the Gilded Age in Washington and somewhat literally how the mighty fell as the residents of the Dupont Circle/Massachusetts Avenue neighborhood nearly all lost their money in the Depression and sold the buildings on the cheap/left their mansions to countries for embassies.

SFP Editor: What do you hope participants get out of the tours?

Terry Cordaro:I hope people will appreciate the cultural heritage of our marvelous city. Yes we're famous for politics here but politicians had everyday lives too. Maybe people will also appreciate more the heritage beyond the Mall. Most walking tours last about two hours and give someone a taste of a neighborhood.

SFP Editor: What brought you to DC?

Terry Cordaro: My family moved here when I was seven and while I went away for college and grad school I always came back. I've lived within the city now for nearly 10 years.

SFP Editor: What uncommon DC site can you recommend to visitors or DC locals?

Terry Cordaro: The Bartholdi Fountain--by the Capitol and Health and Human Services building (and by the Botanical Garden). It's built by the same man who designed the Statue of Liberty and it's particularly gorgeous when lit up at night.

SFP Editor: What about washington dc inspires you the most?

Terry Cordaro: The warm, yet fast-paced energy. The fact that we're right on the pulse of much of modern day life in this fast-paced, sophisticated and politically savvy cultural melting pot. Everyone here is a player, no matter what he or she does. Everyone needs to be really intellectually curious to do well at work and to have a good social life! Also there is so much to do--culturally, sports-wise, politically. There are people from every country on earth, yet there's a sense of community and genuine hospitality--D.C. can feel like a small town too. With the new administration, it seems Washington is becoming the hip "place to be"--a far cry from when I was growing up in the Virginia 'burbs.

SFP Editor:: What do you do during the day when you are not guiding a walk?

Terry Cordaro: I'm a project manager at the State Department. While I love my day job, the tour guiding provides a nice chance to relax and to meet people.

SFP Editor: What other city do you find as interesting as Washington, DC and why?

Terry Cordaro: I love Paris--it's so beautiful and elegant, it has a rich history, great art and architecture and is of course culturally diverse as well.

SFP Editor: If you could go back in time and visit DC, what time period would you choose?

Terry Cordaro: The Gilded Age, so I could meet the driven, yet eccentric people who made their fortunes and lived in our city during that time. Of course it wouldn't be right to reveal anything about them while not leading a tour!