Crystal Young-Otterstrom

With a young daughter, a pair of jobs, a variety of volunteer positions, and a slew of church callings, Crystal is always busy. Despite that, she carved out some time to talk with Utah Common Values and explain how her family, career, and testimony of the gospel inspire her liberal values.

What do you do professionally?

I was previously the Audience Development & Print Media Manager at the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera. Now my husband Joel and I have an 18 month old daughter, Betty (who is the cutest little girl ever born), and I am a work-from-home consultant for USUO. I run their Vivace and Cadenza programs, and I am also the Administrative Director of the Utah Cultural Alliance. I keep busy, but Betty is my most important job.

Did you serve an LDS mission?

Nope. I consider graduate school in New York to be very mission-like for me. Nobody had ever heard of Mormons! I was often told that I wasn’t what people expected from a “church-goer” since I didn’t judge them for living differently than me.

What’s your current church calling?

I am currently a gospel doctrine teacher, ward organist, and Relief Society pianist (I live in a branch in downtown Salt Lake City). I was first called as music chair of my ward when I was just 13, and I’ve always had a music calling with the exception of the four years that I served as first counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. That was pretty fulfilling. This is my second time as gospel doctrine teacher, and I really enjoy this calling as well.

Where do you consider yourself to be politically?

I’m a progressive liberal democrat. As a liberal person I have changed my thinking a lot over the last two years. I used to be disappointed by moderates like Representative Jim Matheson, but I’ve come to realize that if we insist on only accepting things that are in line with our deepest convictions America won’t be able to accomplish anything. I think this is why we are in such a political stalemate right now, and I prefer politicians who, while they may not always be moderate, are at least willing to have a conversation and reach a compromise. If we can’t have a conversation, we will never progress as a country.

How did your family affect your religious and political outlook?

My parents weren’t the type to say that we had to be members of the church or else. My Dad is a convert, and my parents encouraged us to find our own testimonies. They knew that if we had our own testimonies we would choose on our own to live according to the gospel. I’ll never forget the first time I knelt down to ask for confirmation from the Spirit that the Church is true. I was just 9 years old.

Conservative people ask me all the time why I am a faithful member of the church and a liberal. I say, as Senator Harry Reid said, that my testimony of the gospel is why I am a liberal. My biggest motivator is that “true religion” is to care for the fatherless and widowed (James 1:27 and James 2). As an older teenager and young adult I began to realize that America at large, and religious people specifically, have a duty to make sure that there are no poor among us. That started everything for me. My parents taught me to love others, that we all have a role in alleviating suffering, that we need to protect our God-given environment, and the importance of equality. God is no respecter of persons!

Posted on September 27, 2011. Photography by Kaitlyn Janis. Video by Talk About Productions.