Welcome to my page!
I wanted to share a little bit about me and the work I love to do.
I began my communications career in 2017 working at the local newspaper, The News-Review, as a sports reporter. I later attended the School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC) at the University of Oregon to continue my education in the field. While attending school, I worked at two student newspapers and The Register-Guard to get as much experience as possible in community story-telling.
While in the SOJC, I began cultivating my passion for public relations and non-profit organizations. After graduating with my Bachelors Degree in Public Relations, I quickly accepted a position at Adapt Integrated Health Care in their prevention department in 2021. I began working as a prevention outreach coordinator and dove deep into project management, grant writing, education, outreach, and community mobilization. I was given the opportunity to work with local, statewide, and federal stakeholders in child sexual abuse prevention. Our main goal was promoting protective factors and intervention strategies in rural communities. I primarily focused on positive social norm campaigns to reduce the stigma around having open conversations with the community on sexual violence. I believe meeting people where they are at and walking alongside them is the best approach when trying to engage rural communities in stigmatized topics.
A year later, I was promoted to the Prevention Program Manager where I was responsible for managing prevention activities for various public health programs, including opioid prevention. I oversaw multiple programs and grants that varied in topic and scope of work. I enjoyed this level of leadership because I had the opportunity to indulge in grant writing, grant management, communications, and stakeholder relations every day. I became a well-rounded professional in the non-profit sector by having the opportunity to gain experience in all aspects of the work.
During my time in this role, I built close relationships with several coalitions and collaboratives focusing on complex community issues. This is when I began connecting with Creating Community Resilience, a collective impact effort in Douglas County focused on increasing trauma-informed practices. In this work, I deepened my knowledge on the impacts of trauma and adverse childhood experiences on public health.
I was offered a position with Creating Community Resilience for their outreach coordinator position in 2023, and was promoted to program manager in 2024. My role started as managing community messaging for trauma-informed care but evolved to leading high-level systems change for impacting community norms and organizational practices by centering people with lived-experiences in the solutions. I am passionate about engaging impacted communities and those with lived-experience as the priority stakeholders. I believe that our society has the potential to achieve high-level impact by listening to learn.
As a rural Oregonian, I have seen my community face challenges with limited resources and capacity. I want my legacy to be a champion for collaboration and collective impact that leads to healthy and happy communities for my daughter.
