When Mary Mast saw an ad looking for a museum director at the Folsom History Museum, she instantly knew she was the woman for the job.

A longtime Sacramento resident until her move to Folsom in 2005, Mast had long wanted to live here. “I love the bike trails, the river, the foothills . . . the beauty of the area,” Mast says. Before working at her current post, she worked as an elementary and junior high school teacher for more than 18 years, in addition to periods of time spent working in marketing and sales.

Photos by Dante Fontana, © Style Media Group.

These seemingly disparate careers gave Mast just the right skills for her new position at the museum, where she manages a staff of 45-plus active volunteers, plans new exhibits, and helps raise funds to maintain, innovate and service the museum. She especially loves watching the school groups who come through Pioneer Village, the “living museum” where children get to directly interact with the history of Folsom through hands-on activities such as panning for gold. For Mast, who is also a member of the Heritage Preservation League, it’s all about conserving the history of Folsom for future generations. Mast says, “We want people who have lived in Folsom all their lives to know that their stories and their family’s stories will be told and preserved.”

For more about Mary Mast and other local happenings and information, be sure to pick up this month's copy of Style – Folsom, El Dorado Hills edition. Click on the Get Your Copy link on this Web site for some of our newsstand locations; click on the Subscribe link on this Web site to become a regular subscriber, or to order a copy of this issue or one of our back issues, please email  [email protected], or call 916-988-9888.