EHE Staff Spotlight

Describe in your own words what it is that you do?  

I oversee alumni engagement and donor relations for the college, and I've been in the role for the past four years. Prior to that, I was the executive director of Global Engagement for the college.  

I was given an opportunity to join the Advancement team about four years ago, and it was a wonderful opportunity to have another form of direct impact on the important work that we do. I was excited about that, and it's been an absolutely wonderful experience. 

Describe your experience with EHE 

EHE is a wonderful place to work for a couple of reasons. One is that the work that we do, in touching people's lives and preparing the future generations of stewards of our society, is so central to just about every aspect of life. So that is really important to me — the mission and goals of the college itself.  

The fact that we are committed to ensuring opportunities for inclusion and inclusion for everyone is also core to why I love being in EHE. Also, I would say the people always make all the difference in any kind of work that you do. From faculty to students, to alumni to donors, and so importantly, all of the staff across the college that I get to interact with — that is what brings me joy every day. 

Who or what inspires you daily?  

I have profound respect for our colleagues in so many different departments, whether it's in scholarship, undergraduate student affairs or our MarCom team; just the content expertise of our faculty. Everybody impresses me deeply with their content expertise and their professionalism.  

I have to give a special shout out to the team in Advancement. It is a wonderful, wonderful team. Every person is a high performer and collaborative. I would say that Pablo (Banhos), our boss, has built an extraordinary team of committed individuals, and he has created with these individuals a culture of customer service and teamwork. It is truly one of the most inspiring and fulfilling teams I've ever been a part of. 

Everyone is mission focused, mission driven and focused on the change that we're making in the world. Especially under the dean's leadership, it’s such an exciting time to be working with and to represent EHE. It makes me proud.  

What is your proudest moment at EHE? 

Well, this is actually as a student, I would say. I was the head of a partner organization on a major teacher quality partnership grant a number of years ago, and through that work, I became a doctoral student. When I defended my dissertation, my two daughters were there. My parents, research collaborators and my faculty advisors were there, and I think that I was so proud of that moment. 

That’s just because of what it all represented in terms of the relationships of the people who got me to that point. I carry that forward with me in all of my work in the college every day. So I'm a very, very proud alum, and it's kind of fun now, to be overseeing alumni engagement.  

How do you connect with the core values or the mission of the college daily? 

That's hard because I think that to answer in a simple sort of anecdotal way, because I think the core values are so much of who we are, that it's not like you perform an activity and you sort of check the box. These values are central to everything that you do in every way you look at the world. 

The values are also a philosophical or theoretical way of looking at the world and approaching our work and interacting with our stakeholders. All of them. So, we try to bring excellence in everything we do in terms of, for example, customer service, the products that we create, the ways we tell our stories of excellence in collaboration with MarCom. Diversity and inclusion are so fundamental, and equity. They’re so fundamental to everything.  

What's one thing that people don't know about you that they would be surprised to find out? 

I feel like I'm an open book, but I love to practice kickboxing, Muay Thai and jujitsu.  

Can you describe what you do as an Early Head Start coach?

As an Early Head Start coach, my primary goal is to help teachers improve their teaching practices. I go to about five childcare centers and five in-home childcare providers and work with them when looking at their curriculum, their interactions with children and how their environment is set up. 

Mainly, my purpose is to make sure that they're engaging in developmentally appropriate practices with children, making sure that the curriculum aligns with that, and that their environments reflect the families that are in their program because Head Start is very heavy on the family side. Even before being in Early Head Start, we realize that parents play a huge role in their child's development and learning. They are their child's first teacher, and we're the facilitators in helping them with that. 

I just make sure that overall, when I go out of the classrooms, that the classrooms are reflective of who the children are and that the teachers are using practices that respect the children as individuals because even though they're young, they're still individuals that deserve respect, and that they respect their families as well.

What made you choose this field of work?

I really love kids, ultimately. Even when I was younger, I remember my cousins and just loving them. They were these little human beings, and they were always happy. I always wanted to make sure that the love that I have for children, I was able to display it not only in my family, but outside of my family. So, I started in early childhood education about 14 years ago. I was working as a toddler teacher. Granted, at that time, I had no idea what it meant to be in early education. I thought, “Oh, I get to play with all these really cute babies all day, and I'll make sure they're fed and taken care of.” But I then understood the learning aspect that came with it and having to teach them. 

You're teaching them how to regulate, what it means to learn, how to go to a stranger — you're teaching them all these different aspects. I originally got my bachelor's degree in business marketing, and then I got my master's degree in early childhood leadership and advocacy. It was a big change, but I learned a lot.  What I really wanted to do was be very impactful with young children, but then also get their parents to understand that just the simple things you do every day are part of teaching them how to be a preschooler or kindergartener. As time went on, I just wanted to be able to utilize the knowledge that I learned and teach others, too, because sometimes it's seen as being hard. It is hard work, but it's very rewarding to see our future leaders of the world grow up. I wanted to make sure that everyone understood their importance, and how loving them, caring for them and seeing them for who they are is going to benefit them in the long run.

What do you enjoy most about working with EHE? 

I enjoy being able to have conversations with different individuals. Our team is small, but to be able to interact with researchers who collect all this data and to be able to say, “Hey, this is what we're learning about language with children, and this is what we're seeing if we make these certain changes — it will help with their language development.” 

I like being able to collaborate with other individuals who are fully immersed in their work. Maybe I'm not in that realm, but to be able to have those conversations about even the different practices that I can do as a coach to help the teachers with their children. I feel that especially with the Schoenbaum Family Center, we're very heavy on language development because we understand how important it is for children to be able to not only understand it, but also to express language. A lot of the conversations we have are about the importance of literacy. 

I appreciate the collaboration that I have with different individuals who are different entities throughout early childhood education, because I feel like it does help guide my work on what I need to be doing or if there's certain data that we need to collect. I and won't be as immersed as the researchers because I feel like they have a whole different kind of approach to it than we do. But at least it could get us speaking the same language if we know these are things that we need to look for, to make sure that we're continuously helping the developmental trajectory of the children that we serve.

Who or what inspires you?

I have a lot of individuals that inspire me. My father passed away when I was younger, so all I had was my mom, my aunt and my grandmother. My mom and my aunt are probably the most selfless people I've ever met in my life. They see the good in people, even when those people don't see the good in themselves. That helps me approach everyday life with individuals even when I'm having very tough conversations with people where I'm saying, “I know you understand me, but it's just hard for you to move past this tough situation.” 

Being able to see the good in individuals, to help them, is important. Stacy Orbaker (the other Early Head Start coach) is also a very selfless person, but she always works very hard to make sure that she's checking herself and her biases before even helping someone, which I think is very reflective for anyone to do in this current state of mind. So, having that type of colleague, my family, people around me do certain little things every day — they inspire me to be the best that I can be and to look at situations differently than I would otherwise. It is now 2024, and children are different. I think the way we learn is different. The way information is presented to us is different. So, I just try to take little nuggets from everyone that I'm around to help build myself into a better person and to be able to assist those that need it.

How do you connect with the mission or the core values of the college daily?

The one thing that I really admire about EHE is the forefront of diversity. The college in itself is diverse, but even with us, there are predominantly Black or brown children in our programs. The same is true for families. Even in that, it is still making sure that we're connecting to what their cultures are. That’s something that I do a lot. I want to make sure that any time I'm talking to a family or a teacher, that they feel comfortable with me and that they feel welcomed and seen. And I'm not trying to project what I think they should be doing onto them. That comes with a lot of relationship building to be able to have those conversations, but also to see people for who they are. 

That’s my approach with all the families and teachers I interact with. They hold value. I see the teachers, and I see the parents as the experts. I am there to supplement and to help. I’m also a Black individual, and I want to be seen as such, so diversity and inclusion are probably the highlight of my work. I want individuals to feel seen and to understand that they bring so much more value to this conversation. 

What do you think makes EHE unique? 

Just the diversity and the individuals and being able to comingle with so many different sectors of EHE. I do feel like even with the actual diversity, equity and inclusion program, I know that if I wanted to reach out to them to say, “Hey, this is the work that I'm trying to do, and I need help,” I can do that. 

Even with the dean, there was a time he came around and talked about EHE and about trying to figure out how it relates to the very specific building that we were in and the core values. He has a lot of important things to do, but he took time to come and talk to us because he recognized the type of work that we're doing. Having someone higher up in the college who's like, “I value what you all are doing and what’s going on. Let's have a conversation.” It means a lot because that means that he actually cares. He's not there just because of his title, so, that makes us feel seen. He is, like, “Yes, I want to make these changes within the college and within our program. So, let's have a conversation.” 

What is your proudest moment at EHE?

I have a couple. Being able to go from being a teacher in the classroom to now being an educational coach is a proud moment for me. It was a huge transition to go from working with kids all day to working with adults and kids. It took time to adjust but I'm proud of the place that I'm at, where I can have conversations with teachers. I feel like they value what I say and recognize that I know what I'm talking about. 

Another moment is something that we realized when observing classrooms and having conversations with teachers — it’s that teachers were having a hard time talking about what diversity meant in their classrooms when it came to their children. So, I created what we called book highlights. We took culturally inclusive books and purchased them for the year for all of the classrooms and created these templates (in honor of Rudine Sims Bishop, the “mother of multicultural literature), so that they can read a book, and then they can implement different activities within their classrooms to help talk about diversity or display diversity in their classroom. 

They can also share these books or templates with parents to take home, too. One thing that we realized is that even though we have diverse children, the teachers are not as diverse, and they didn’t know how to talk about these things. We had to get them to understand the importance of having these conversations because they're not going anywhere. Being able to build up their competence in their capacity to be able to implement these different activities in their classroom has been really successful. Now every month, they ask, “When are we getting our book?” A lot of them have not seen these books before, which is really nice to give them the opportunity to teach diversity through the literacy lens instead of having these one-on-one conversations that they were thinking they needed to have. 

Do you have any hobbies or interests?

I really enjoy working out. I like lifting heavy weights. My husband and I really like to lift together, which is really nice. I have three children, and two of them are still in school. My daughter plays a lot of sports, and I really enjoy watching my children play sports, too, just for the competitive lens of it, because I competed, and my husband competed. So, I like watching my kids have fun. 

What is your experience with the culture of EHE?

I've seen a lot of changes over 25 years, and we've moved to a more flexible view of staff and equity. I see less of a hierarchy and more of a collaborative where everybody contributes around the table.

What is your experience working for EHE?

I'm on multiple teams because, being on soft money, it's based around projects. So whoever's involved in the project becomes a team. I would say that overall, it is professional, collegial, and people are valued for their contributions to whatever the initiative is or whatever the project is. I would say that I feel cared for and seen. 

What is unique about your job or your team?

Because of the profession that I chose, which is teaching, I feel like I'm a bridge between our partnering sites and our core Ohio State team. I'm a bridge between new teachers in the field and their administrators or their faculty here and programs that they're in. I observe new career-tech teachers for Dr. (Chris) Zirkle, as well as work here in the center on other federal grants. When somebody asks me what I do, my easiest answer is, “I train teachers how to teach” because there are so many nuances to my job.

I think my role is unique because I work with budgets, allocating resources, managing people, managing technology, trying to make things work efficiently and effectively and managing a large federal project with millions of dollars. It encompasses a lot of different things. And I hear people say, “I want a job like yours,” and I'm like, “I don’t think there is another job like mine.” I think it's unique because it combines so many different activities.  

Do you have anyone or anything that inspires you?

My faith is a big inspiration. I think that's more what I look to than people. I have great mentors in my life for specific things. But as far as inspiration, my husband and I established a 501(c3) to do mission work. That’s where I see my next steps — serving others and making a way for others to live more, whether that's through more and safer education. We do a lot of sponsoring of students in Belize to get educated because their education system is very different than ours. They have to pay to go to elementary school. So, there's no public or free education in Belize. It's a privilege to go to school. So, serving others is where my passion lies, whether that be local, state, national or international. 

My other passion is caring for the aging. My parents are elderly, and I see such a technology gap that the elderly have, from banking to medical, etc. Everything's based online and through portals, using passwords. I don't know how elderly people manage if they don’t have family or a strong network close by to assist. COVID has taught me about the struggle for that age group. I think it's the teacher in me. I have the skill set to either offer my services or get them to the right services where they can get assistance or get help.

What is your proudest moment at EHE? 

One was when I first took this job. My father was actually the director of the center, and I did a summer internship, a summer experience, because I was teaching school, and they needed some project work done. They asked me to come on full time. I didn't report to him, however. I can remember being called into his office in my role, and it was just weird having your parent be your boss. That was something that my siblings and I don't share, and I don’t know how many people really get that experience, but my father was so well respected that it was a proud moment for me to be able to be on staff and under his leadership. I'd always heard about his work, but until then, I’d never been under his leadership in a work setting. 

Another proud moment would be when Dr. Zirkle went to the chair of the department to push that he wanted me in the schools, observing teachers. Had he not pushed for that, I'm not sure it would have happened. That was probably in 2018, So, I've been working with him since then, observing teachers and being out in the career-tech schools, which is my background. That's my passion, too. That’s what I love to do, being out and seeing teachers and students, being able to help them hone their skills. That's probably one of my proudest moments, when he went to bat for me and said, “This is who I want, so let's make it happen.”

How do you connect with the core values or the mission of the college daily?

We always have the strategic goals aligned with our strategic plan of the center. That dovetails our work. So, I ask myself: How am I connecting to the community, doing outreach? How am I furthering the image of Ohio State? How do I operate, who do I come into contact with? Then we make sure the activities that we do on our projects also align with the center and the college and the university. When you have those conversations at the management level, it's easier to do your daily work, because it's all aligned. We talk about it often. We make sure that when we're doing new initiatives, or we're talking about new opportunities, that we connect in those ways. 

One of the big thrusts with our center is working with translational research and putting research into practice. So, we ask, “What does that mean and how does the practice align with those strategic goals and further the research, the scholarly publications and all the things that are important to the college and the university

What's one thing people don't know about you that they would be surprised to find out? 

I play handbells. Our current church doesn't have a handbell choir, but I grew up in a church that did, and I played for a good many years. I got to the point where I could hold four bells at a time, which is hard to do. Usually it's one in each hand, and I could ring two in each hand. 

What have you gained from working at EHE? 

I've gained a huge network that now expands far beyond the university or even Columbus. It has allowed me the opportunity to travel. We have partners in Puerto Rico, so it's allowed me to travel there. I’ve given presentations in Washington, DC, so it's allowed me travel and gain experiences and networking opportunities that probably are the most beneficial to me that I'll carry with me the rest of my life.

What does excellence mean to you?

In my former world, I would say that excellence was perfection, but I don't believe that anymore. So many times we've had to get things done and out the door that may not have been perfect. But I think excellence is when you do the very best that you can. It meets the criteria, whatever that particular thing is. It doesn't necessarily mean it has to be perfect. I've let the perfection in my world go and look more at does what I do meet the function and have I given it my best try? If the answer's yes, then that's excellence to me.

Do you have any other hobbies or interests that you would like to share? 

I have lots of hobbies and interests. I love to craft and do puzzles. I love to find an organization that has a need and fulfill that need. I love crocheting or knitting or selling some kind of craft item, but I like to craft for the sake of crafting, too. I love the coloring app and find that very soothing. I'm a people person, so I'm involved in a lot of groups. I sing, I used to play the piano. I don't play that much anymore, but music’s a big part of my life. 

What do you enjoy most about working with EHE? 

What keeps me engaged in the grants administration work I support is learning about everyone’s research, what they question, how they approach and of course what is learned and what comes next. It’s especially gratifying when I am involved for the entire “life” of the grant – — starting with a response to a funding opportunity, or discussion with an investigator, through the development and submission of the application, reading through reviews, then (hopefully) notification of an award, assisting with each project’s unique needs and seeing the results of everyone’s effort. 

What is unique about your team?   

I am struck by the special dynamism of the research enterprise at the college’s centers. It’s multidisciplinary, diverse, collaborative and mission driven. That dynamism resonates in so much of what we do, and translates to a wide and diverse research portfolio of service grants; training grants; large, multi-year studies; supplemental projects; research collaborations; and connections across Ohio State and with other national and international institutions and researchers.   

Who or what inspires you?  

My parents. Both were first in their families to go to college; both were smart, strong, independent individuals with vastly different personalities, but their union and everything they accomplished together was an object lesson for me in the fact that something can be greater than the sum of its parts. Their memory and legacy lives with me every day. Thank you, Jane and Harold.  

What do you think makes EHE unique?   

The breadth and scope of what EHE encompasses amazes me, and the many and surprising connections/interactions — both formal and informal — EHE has with everyday living.  

What is your proudest moment at EHE? 

I would never want to experience another pandemic, but in retrospect, how we as a college survived and learned together is both a point of pride and a source of hope for me.   

Provide an example of what excellence means to you.   

I think excellence means demonstrating that you care in whatever you choose to undertake. And always being a conscientious steward of resources.   

Hobbies or interests you’d like to share. 

I love learning something new, and that love manifests itself in my enjoyment of travel, reading and food.