Tell us about your Bright Schol­ar connection.

I was award­ed the Bright Schol­ars of Iowa schol­ar­ship in 2014 at the Uni­ver­si­ty of North­ern Iowa. I grad­u­at­ed from there in 2018 with my bachelor’s degree in Leisure, Youth and Human Ser­vices with an empha­sis in Non­prof­it Man­age­ment and a minor in Fam­i­ly Stud­ies. I am tru­ly priv­i­leged to have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to give back to an orga­ni­za­tion that saw my poten­tial 10 years ago and made col­lege a reality.

How would you sum­ma­rize your pro­fes­sion­al career thus far?

I have held pro­gram­mat­ic roles for non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions serv­ing the under-resourced and indi­vid­u­als with intel­lec­tu­al and devel­op­men­tal dis­abil­i­ties. I enjoy strate­gic plan­ning, facil­i­tat­ing train­ing, event plan­ning and exe­cu­tion, and sup­port­ing indi­vid­u­als and orga­ni­za­tion in achiev­ing their goals. 

What keeps you busy out­side of work? 

My hus­band Josh and I are licensed fos­ter par­ents. I love vol­un­teer­ing with­in my local church, cheer­ing from the side­lines of a youth sport­ing event, or enjoy­ing a Hall­mark Christ­mas movie (year-round) while doing Dia­mond Dotz. 

What are three fun facts about you — aside from being a Bright Alum?

I’m a Christ­mas fanat­ic. I own 45 Christ­mas sweaters (and count­ing!) that I wear from Thanks­giv­ing until Jan­u­ary 6^th.

I’ve nev­er drank coffee.

I wear socks to bed year round.