I’ve always been drawn toward social justice issues. I vibe off a cause. My master’s degree is in Labor Relations and earlier in my career, I lived near Harrisburg and worked in labor relations for the Commonwealth. Then my husband and I relocated to Pittsburgh and my attention shifted to raising our four kids.

I've always lived in northwestern Pennsylvania. I ended up in the same town where I graduated from college.  When I was going to school, I had a few different ideas of what I wanted to do, but I knew that overall, I wanted to work with people and try to make a difference.

My journey with Voce began in 2021 when I learned the organization was looking for a banking partner to support its growth. At the time, I was working at Members 1st, a community-driven organization focused on giving back. The more I learned about Voce, the more I realized our missions were closely aligned.

"I’ve always been in child welfare. I studied Child Development and Family Relations at IUP, took the civil service test, and became a caseworker in Allegheny County’s North office. After we moved north, I transferred to Venango, and that’s where I first learned about LSI. I didn’t see myself staying in frontline work forever, and the LSI model just clicked for me—it really brought together everything I’d learned as a caseworker, but in a different way."

“I’m a perpetual student of life. In my opinion, if you’re breathing, you’re learning! That’s partly what brought me to Voce. I was already working at Washington County Children and Youth as a legal secretary, but I was at a crossroads and wanted to learn more about child welfare and the law."

I always felt I wanted to work with kids, I just wasn’t sure what that would look like. When I was attending Mansfield University, I took a social work class, and right away I knew this was it! In one way or another, I’ve been connected to child welfare throughout my career.