Rosanne Dunkelberger
Let’s set the scene: It’s 2004, and Josh Aubuchon, President of the University of Florida’s prestigious Florida Blue Key, is sitting in while General Chair Alexis Fowler and Gator Growl producer Txikia Hernandez-Morales interview candidates for leadership positions for a weekend of Homecoming activities.
A “pretty blonde girl” who seems “very, very sweet” is applying for the job of Homecoming Alumni Barbecue director. Josh isn’t expecting much. She is asked, “What new ideas do you have for this position?”
That pretty blonde girl, aka Allison Fogt, proceeds to whip out a list, saying, “Well, I’ve been working on this for the past few years. I would do this. I would do this. Save money. I would change this.”
“I’m looking at the two other folks … and we’re like, whoa, you just don’t get that kind of caliber of interview,” Josh says. “I still have their notes and they type ‘this Alison Fogt girl was by far the most impressive interview we’ve had. We need to give her a position she’s asked for (or) we should give her that or whatever else she might want.’”
Needless to say, she got the job.
Allison has a different recollection. She noticed his “beautiful blue eyes” but found him scary, “kind of mean,” and “intimidating looking.”
Later, when she was sitting in the Student Government office seeking another position — “I was gung ho trying to get involved on campus” — she encountered her future husband again.
“Josh walked up, and he was so friendly, and he’s like, ‘Hey, how’s it going? And it was just a total personality shift,” she recalls. “He was actually warm and nice. And then, fast forward. We had kind of our Summer of Love in 2004.”
Josh’s love of learning and eclectic interests, like fencing, piqued Allison’s interest.
“I could tell this is the kind of guy that I’ve been wanting, that I feel like excited about. He’s so interesting to talk to. He had blueberries in his refrigerator. I was like, who eats blueberries in college?”
The couple would move to Tallahassee, where Josh attended law school and Allison attended grad school. “We kind of fell in love with Tallahassee and got our first jobs here,” she says. “We did not expect this. We were planning to go to Tampa. This is where we’re meant to be. It’s such a great place to raise a family.”
They married and made that family, complete with two tow-headed boys, JD, 10, and Walker, 7, who they declare are “amazing.” The eldest is into soccer and viola and is into competitions and Student Council. Walker plays soccer and drums and enjoys drawing. He asked for a typewriter for his birthday, which is this week. Both, Mom proudly shares, have great senses of humor.
“I feel like we’re in a sweet spot with them because those baby years, especially with both of us working connected to The Process, were really tough … and now they’re a lot more self-sufficient. You can give them a book or something to do, and they can, like, get themselves a snack.”
Without nearby family, they’ve employed babysitters and students to take up the slack. “It’s important to figure out your backup when you have two parents so busy,” she advises.
Eight years ago, Allison started her own business, Allison Aubuchon Communications. More recently, Josh and Mark Delegal left Holland & Knight to partner up and create their own firm, Delegal|Aubuchon Consulting.
Although they remain busy, both moves have created another level of flexibility. “You can plan meetings at your convenience. You’re not being pulled into someone else’s calendar,” she says. “We both work hard. If I need to drop everything for a sick kid or go to the Easter thing at school, I don’t feel bad because I … get my stuff done at a different time beyond the 9 to 5 or whatever hours.”
The pair are in the midst of working with partners on a start-up called Well Connector. They hope to create an app that would take the work burden off patients when they see a new doctor.
“It came out of a personal health issue that I was going through. I have rheumatoid arthritis,” Allison says. “When I was going through my diagnosis about two years ago, I was having to fill out the new patient clipboard every single time, you know, referred to another doctor, fill out the same information, medical history, family history, allergies — all of that good stuff. And it was just like, infuriating.”
The Aubuchons don’t expect to do much to commemorate February 14. “We don’t ever normally do something like totally big and crazy for Valentine’s Day,” says Josh. “We celebrate other days to show our nerdiness. We celebrate Pi Day. One, because pie is fun and I was a math nerd in high school, but also because that’s the day we got engaged.”
