Big Ideas, Real Impact.
With a bachelor’s degree in Corporate and Health Communication, a master’s degree in Communication with an emphasis in Public Health, and three years of Public Health AmeriCorps service, I bring a strong blend of academic preparation and hands‑on experience to my work. I was recognized as the 2025 AmeriCorps Member of the Year for advancing recovery support, advocacy, and stigma reduction around substance use disorder. As a mother of two and an individual in long‑term recovery, supported by my service dog Zoe, I leverage both lived experience and professional expertise to drive policy and programming that support recovery, reintegration, and community well‑being. I enjoy all things outdoors as nature allows me to relax and feel the most like myself. I am an avid reader, writer, and artist. Art has allowed me to express myself in surprising ways. I value service opportunities that allow me to contribute meaningfully to my community.
Moving beyond survival allowed me to build the capacity to apply what I’ve learned, and what I’ve lived, in a purposeful, sustainable way. This growth shapes my professional approach and strengthens my commitment to creating pathways of stability and reintegration for others.
Beyond Recovery: Graduate Study, Sober Strong, and the Call to Reentry Reform
When I entered graduate school, I had already completed a year of service with Public Health AmeriCorps at the YMCA of the Chippewa Valley. My goal was straightforward: earn a master’s degree in communication with an emphasis in public health so I could advance my work with the Sober Strong program. I expected graduate study to refine my communication skills, not reshape my understanding of public health or social change.
Graduate coursework quickly expanded my perspective. I learned how and why communication drives public health outcomes, influences policy agendas, and reduces stigma. Storytelling, narrative framing, advocacy, and community engagement became more than tools, they became mechanisms for shifting public perception and improving systems of care. This deeper understanding helped me recognize that Sober Strong needed to evolve. Participants were facing homelessness, incarceration, and reintegration challenges that required a broader, more trauma‑informed approach. Graduate study showed me why recovery programming must address structural barriers and how communication can empower people whose experiences are often marginalized.
This insight led me to develop Community Care and Reintegration Services (CCRIS), a more comprehensive model that integrates trauma‑informed communication, coordinated care, and reintegration support. As I learned more about organizational capacity and community need, I realized the YMCA could not sustain a program of this scale. That recognition, and my growing understanding of system‑level communication, pushed me to seek opportunities where I can apply my communication expertise to broader public health challenges.
This shift from program facilitation to system‑level change is why I am pursuing new professional pathways and preparing to apply to the DrPH program in Health Equity and Social Justice at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. I want to help design policies and interventions that support individuals experiencing incarceration and recidivism, including expanding access to trauma‑informed health and wellness programming.
Graduate school didn’t just refine my skills—it transformed my philosophy. It taught me how communication can change systems and why my lived experience, paired with academic training, positions me to advance equity‑centered care. My goals have grown, but their foundation remains the same: to transform trauma into practice and build pathways of healing, belonging, and opportunity.
