communicate effectively•develop others•value diversity and difference•
effectively resolve•conflict•coach & mentor subordinates and others•
build and maintain quality relationships•manage teams and work groups
My immediate family standing in front of our new house.
On the right is my extended family surrounding my mother (seated) and father (standing behind his new wife just behind her).
Professionally, I am the "cat herder" at work. I'm responsible for making sure that my direct supervisors stay on track by managing their calendars, following-through on directives, and generally helping them to do their jobs and keep our hospital on track. I am also asked to mentor the other Administrative Assistants at our hospital and help to set standards and systems to create consistency at our facility. I am often the liaison between the Executive Board and the Directors of the various departments. Whenever we have a directive come down from the Commissioner's team, I will be asked to help gather data. Often, visits by auditors, community groups, and lawmakers are handled by our office and require my direct involvement.
Personally, I'm one of the organizers in the family and I believe that has been a trait on which people have relied for many years. I really like being the organizer and helping people in that way. In fact, I find ways to do this in the community all the time...for free! I have been the Vice President and Co-Creator for an organization called, "Roanoke Doesn't Suck" since 2011. This is grassroots, Chamber of Commerce (if you will) helps to promote small businesses and organizations in the Roanoke Valley. We have a strong following which we use to promote businesses and events we find interesting and worthwhile. I guess we were kind of like Influencers before they were a thing.
As part of our efforts to make Roanoke Doesn't Suck a household name, we created an annual event called, "Geek Mob: International Read Comics in Public Day." This event was held on International Read Comics in Public Day (of course) ...or at least the closest weekend to August 28th each year. The local library was our first site (they loved the idea), and it gradually grew, and we had to keep upgrading sites until we finally had to pack it in for COVID. We raised funds for Autism, paying student lunch debt, Angels of Assisi, and canned food drives. I was the organizer, and my husband was the creative genius. Eventually, we had a committee, for which I typically led meetings and delegated roles/projects. We were a great team! I miss them all!
While Geek Mob was gaining traction, we fell in line with another local organization called MystiCon. They wanted my organizational skills and graphic design skills to create/run their programming and create/design the 20+ page program they handed out to their 3,000+ guests. This was great fun and a lot of work. This was a SciFi convention, for which I knew very little...and learned A LOT! We were a non-profit 501(c)(3) and raised Scholarship dollars for local Seniors/1st Year College Art/Literature students. It was a weekend-long event every February, but we worked year-round as a committee. I was asked to be on the Board of Directors on multiple occasions during my time with them. COVID, unfortunately, took this lovely operation down as well.
These days, I help my husband run our company, GeNERDation X. We go around to ComicCons and sell merchandise (and enjoy the people watching and con festivities). My husband and I work together to purchase or create inventory, determine pricing, create a shopping experience.