Living united in our nation's capital

On December 19, 2008, two months before my wedding, I checked online to review the status of my vendors. My personalized wedding website told me that the photographer, florist, printer and the caterer all received their deposits and signed contracts. All things held equal, my husband-to-be and I would continue to save and pay the remainder of our enormous debt at the time of our wedding. Just moments after reviewing our wedding related debt, panic set in. That morning, I learned that I lost my job. My financial stability, my basic living expenses everything seemed overwhelming.

Along with thousands of Americans I was looking for work. I always had a strong sense of empathy for those people - you know the sad people you pass on the street. They are cold, they are hungry, they are homeless. I always wonder how life on the streets became their fate. I now understand that without education, income and health, we could all be moments away from desperation?

During my job search, I came across an opportunity to help people, people just like me, but without the resources to advance beyond their circumstances. Without families, without severance, without advanced degrees. In March 2009, I started working with United Way, an organization that believes education, income and health are the building blocks of a good life.

Within the first few months, I helped build a marketing and communications department. I established an online presence for the organization. In the midst of many other pressing priorities we had to find people where they were gathering. 

We recruited former Washington Post columnist and radio personality, Bob Levey, to jumpstart this effort. Within a few months, where there once was no presence now two blogs, an active facebook page, a twitter account and a you tube channel were quickly up and running. I tried to do it with some true focus and I continue to keep our channels full of interesting user generated content. I took pride in using my role to help area residents lead a better quality of life. In keeping with the national United Way brand, I infused the tone and feel of the LIVE UNITED campaign into our 2009-2010 campaign materials and in an advertorial featured in the Washington Post Express (visit December 16, 2009 issue (pages 16-24). I was fortunate enough to land in a stable place and now it was my turn to give back.

A year with diabetes....

Contrary to the title of this entry fortunately, I did not live with diabetes for a year. Rather, I spent a year learning about the disease and equipping myself with the tools to fight what I thought was an inevitable diagnosis. Growing up, I watched my mother, my grandmother and my aunts struggle with type 2 diabetes and I have often asked myself "Will I be a statistic?" I chose to fight fate and joined the droves of people fighting diabetes at the American Diabetes Association (ADA).  From January through December 2008, I lead the government affairs and advocacy division at ADA in communicating about their work. My experience began with an influential press briefing on Capitol Hill to reveal the devastating economic toll of diabetes and a cost calculator tool that illustrated the actual breakdown per state. The country's leading voices in the fight against diabetes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, educated the country about the true cost of diabetes. Just a few months later, I rallied the same influential leaders to lead hundreds of volunteers in lobbying their Members of Congress. The halls of Congress were filled with the stories of people living and thriving with diabetes. 

Just months later, I shared the groundbreaking news that the American Diabetes Association helped secure passage of the ADA Amendments Act, a true victory for people with disabilities and chronic conditions like diabetes. While Congress passed this influential bill, parents were still struggling to keep children Safe At School by arguing that unlicensed personnel should be able to administer insulin in the absence of a school nurse. Several California nurse groups brought suit seeking to prevent this care from taking place, despite the severe shortage of nurses in the state. Children like my dearest childhood friend, were caught in the middle of this legal battle. My year of exploring diabetes and giving so many patients a voice came to an end in December 2008. Unfortunately, the Association had to reduce staffing levels and I was among those who were affected, but I vowed to continue my work in the health arena. I kept that promise by going to United Way of the National Capital Area and promoting the work of health and human service agencies throughout the greater Washington area.

*writing samples can be found at the links above.