I am a lawyer and operations aficionado with 10 years’ experience working in the nonprofit sector. I started as an Executive Assistant in philanthropy, where I learned a lot about administrative systems and how they work. I planned international meetings and supported with agenda setting, managed my supervisor’s calendar and emails, handled expenses, contracts, supported internal structural transitions, and much more.  I left with an interest in operations and organizational development, and transitioned to managing operations at a global Public Health organization where I focused on building the organizational infrastructure. I established filing systems, supported new software and platform rollouts, wrote policies (travel, procurement, etc.) and implemented them, supported office registrations around the world, supported recruitment, onboarded staff, and so on. I then moved on to a Director of Operations role at an organization where I managed facilities, contracted vendors, managed recruitments, worked on strategy, and did more of the responsive work that many nonprofit operations and administrative staff are familiar with. 

My work experience has taught me a lot about organizational development and growth, change management, strategy implementation, and so on. I am the “how” person who makes sure plans are doable. I am also the systems person who understands that successful strategic implementation goes hand in hand with smooth internal processes and systems. 

I became an operations generalist (read: handle anything that comes my way) because I love it. I love problem solving, addressing new issues as organizations expand and evolve, and plan for their futures. Unfortunately, I have found that staff, particularly in administration and operations, are often stuck in response mode, often putting out fires, quickly planning as things go along, and filling gaps without the time nor space to slow down and make sure that things are addressed holistically. Speedy, reactive, under pressure solutions stress staff out, curb creativity and solution-oriented thinking, and often produce results that need a lot of revisiting and fixing. Further, there isn’t a lot of opportunity for entry to mid-level staff to experience the magic in operations and administration, or grow technically because of lack of meaningful professional development opportunities and time. I would like to work with administrative and operations teams as well as leadership teams in settings that allow for creativity and reflection to create practical plans, policies, and solutions that feel good and facilitate strategy execution. 

You might wonder, can such an intentional place exist? The answer is yes, if one creates it. Let's work together.