I'm a wife and mom to two girls, and I've been in the Cincinnati area for over 20 years now. I grew up in Alabama and still consider it home.
I received both my undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Alabama...Roll Tide!
Over the course of my career, I have worked in child protection at the state level and within the medical system while working at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. During my time there, I was part of the child abuse team and completed hundreds of forensic interviews of children. I worked closely with both medical staff as well as community partners such as police and children's services. Testifying in court cases was something I was called to do at times as well. During my time here, I assisted with training new employees and mentored social work students.
After 15 years at the hospital, I moved to a remote position with a large insurance provider. I have been in this role for more than 6 years. I provided services telephonically to individuals with special needs. I reach out to assess and determine the need for resources and assist with connecting to resources. I am a team leader and help with training the nurse care managers on the social work role within the organization. I have also mentored new social workers learning their roles.
I consider myself a multi-passionate person. I love learning and growing as a person. I have always loved social media and decided to pursue working within social media in some capacity. I used my social work experience to gain a moderator position with a very large online game for children. I spent 7 years assisting with engaging and moderating both in-game as well as on several social media platforms. I maintained my full-time position as a social worker and worked in this position on the side. I then moved to work for a large organization that provides content for patients with chronic illnesses. I assist with moderating their social media platforms and comments on their website. Again, this is something I do on the side. I enjoy my work in the social media space. I even wrote an article on LinkedIn a few years ago that discusses why social workers make great social media managers. Feel free to read it here.
Several years ago I decided to get a life coach certification. I started a Facebook group for women like myself. We have a very specific chronic condition, for which community and support can be so helpful. I've grown the group to over 1,100 women from all over the world. It's a safe place for women to come to support each other. I focus on encouraging self-acceptance and self-love.
Some of my best skills include flexibility, rapport building, working within a team, teaching, social media, community building, and talking about the best shows on Netflix.