On today’s Monday Morning Joe: A Cup of Joe for Two, Tara O’Connell joins the podcast to talk about all things Tara and all thing Youth and Government (or YAG for short). Tara serves as Associate Executive Director for Teen Initiatives for the YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City.  

Tara O’Connell has been with the YMCA in total for 23 years. Tara’s roles within the YMCA have included Day Camp Counselor at The Ardmore Family YMCA, Summer Camp Counselor and C.I.T Co-Director for YMCA Camp Grady Spruce located at Possum Kingdom Lake in TX, Lifeguard, Day Camp Coordinator at Rankin YMCA, Sports Director, Youth and Family Director, and Associate Executive Director at the Bethany & Rockwell Plaza YMCA. Tara’s strong Y foundation is attributed to her mother, Jana Weichbrodt who is the CEO of The Ardmore Family YMCA. Her mom has been with the Y mission since the mid 80’s and Tara wears the “Y Brat” title proudly and is carrying on the tradition with her own children.  

Tara grew up in Ardmore, OK and received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology in God’s Country aka Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK. Tara and her husband Jake O’Connell, reside in Edmond, OK where they have 2 children Tague 7 (who was born on Tara’s birthday), & Scout 2 (who was born on Jakes’ birthday), and a 1-year-old German Shepherd named Behr. Tara enjoys’ s anything OSU, traveling with her family, making awesome themed playlists from Spotify, Dance parties, listening to audiobooks, and working out on her peloton and has plans to use her cycle instructor certification to teach cycling classes in the future.