41: Leadership Through Listening with Rachel Harrison and Craig Bedard
Leadership Evolution
In the last episode of this limited edition series, Rachel Harrison shares her personal leadership journey and the lessons she has learned along the way. She also gives insight into her experience hosting the Leadership Evolution podcast and how it has shaped her own leadership style. Craig Bedard, Deputy Associate Commissioner for the Office of Strategy, Learning, and Workforce Development at the Social Security Administration, joins the show to interview Rachel and discuss the themes of service and self-awareness that emerged from previous episodes. Hear how the COVID-19 pandemic...
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40: Good Leaders Are Good Servants with Bryan Hissong
Leadership Evolution
The public library has played a major role in Bryan Hissong’s life for almost 20 years now. He started out doing story times and puppet shows at various daycares, and he continued to grow in his career within the library over the years. Eventually, Bryan stepped into his current role as the Community Engagement Manager for the Frederick County Public Library. This new position was created for him to develop vibrant and quality programming that would be engaging for adults of all ages within the community. Bryan always wanted to work in a service-based industry, and he believes that...
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39: Leading with Gratitude with Becki Delauter
Leadership Evolution
Not all of us will take the traditional path when it comes to our careers. Life tends to throw us curve balls when we’re least expecting it, and this was definitely the case for Becki Delauter. Her career path was very non-traditional - she found herself needing to get back into the workforce after going through a divorce. After being a stay-at-home mom for several years, Becki started supporting herself and her two boys by juggling multiple part-time jobs. Eventually, Becki landed her current role as the Philanthropic Services Manager for the Community Foundation of Frederick County. ...
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38: Taking Care of People with Margaret Simoneau
Leadership Evolution
Leadership isn’t necessarily something we all want to pursue in our lives, but sometimes we end up leading more than we realize. For Margaret Simoneau, her career path started in massage therapy, but the wear and tear on her body pushed her to do something different. After working with the Frederick County Workforce Services, she was introduced to Plamondon Hospitality Partners. Margaret has been with Plamondon for over 9 years and is currently the Senior Analyst. She helps to provide results-oriented support to Plamondon‘s hotels and uncovering opportunities to maximize efficiencies and...
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37: Never Let Success Get to Your Head and Never Let Failure Get to Your Heart with Christine Cambareri-Kay
Leadership Evolution
Sometimes those around us need a little extra support in their lives, and someone to advocate for them. That’s exactly what Christine Cambareri-Kay did when she began working with adults with developmental disabilities after college. Christine felt like her career ‘found’ her, because she wasn’t sure what her career path would look like after completing her Master’s degree. She’s held various leadership positions over the years, working in human services and the nonprofit sector, with her most recent being the Division Director for the Division of Citizen Services in Frederick...
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36: Magic Happens Outside Your Comfort Zone with Karan Kalantzis
Leadership Evolution
Leadership has always been a key part of Karan Kalantzis’ journey - it actually started for her back in junior high when she joined student council. Over the years, Karan was drawn to planning and organizing activities for others in school and with her career, and she’s gained a great deal of experience in the small business community working in program development. Karan learned about the Maryland Women’s Business Center during the pandemic, which then led to her current role as the Senior Business Consultant for Frederick County. Being collaborative, allowing others to let their...
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35: Be Prepared with Andrea Baker
Leadership Evolution
The arts have always played a major role in Andrea Baker’s life. Whether she was participating in dance and theater throughout her childhood or just living life in a more creative and exploratory fashion, Andrea has continually felt drawn to the arts industry. While she was very comfortable in her previous job, Andrea felt a ‘shift’ when the pandemic happened - especially with having 2 young children at the time. She was ready to come back to the arts, and she found her (now) current position as the Development and Community Outreach Manager for the Maryland Ensemble Theater (MET) in...
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34: There is No Change in the Comfort Zone with Mary Geasey
Leadership Evolution
Sometimes it takes another person to show us our true potential when we can’t see it ourselves. After talking with her high school counselor, Mary Geasey decided to go down the path of higher education and pursue a degree in education. Along her journey, she wanted to learn more about how she could better support her students with special needs. Mary soon became recognized as a special educator, and eventually, she was chosen to rebuild the special education services and programs at Walkersville Elementary School. She is now a special education instructor and has been an educator with...
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33: Leading with Emotional Intelligence with Andrew Moore
Leadership Evolution
When we’re young, we may not clearly know what we want to do in life - especially when it comes to our careers. This was the case for Andrew Moore; he didn’t find what he truly enjoyed until his early thirties, which ended up being aviation. Andrew previously worked in construction on environmental and infrastructure projects. After a few years of obtaining certifications and interviewing, he became an assistant airport manager, and is now the airport manager at Frederick Municipal Airport. Andrew really tuned into his intuition when it came to switching career paths - he had...
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32: Treat Everyone Like Family with Chris Mullendore
Leadership Evolution
The fire and rescue service world has been a huge part of Chris Mullendore’s life since he was a young boy. Both his dad and brother worked for the fire department, which eventually influenced Chris’ decision to become a firefighter. Over the years, he has worked hard and continued to promote through the various ranks of fire and rescue. Chris is now the Battalion Chief of Health and Safety for the Division of Fire and Rescue Services in Frederick County. Chris has always been very proficient when it comes to the skills training in fire and rescue, but he came to realize that...
info_outlineLosing a loved one is heartbreaking - especially when it’s the unexpected death of a child. In today’s episode, Brooke Desantis shares her story of losing her young son tragically due to complications from the flu. By courageously telling her and her family’s story, she began to inspire and educate others regarding influenza and sepsis. The Love for Lochlin Foundation Inc. is a community foundation that Brooke began in her son’s honor. Since starting the foundation 3 years ago, she and her team have been able to give away almost 3000 vaccines in over 200 clinics.
Brooke wants people to understand the severity of sepsis, and why vaccines should be readily available for everyone. She is passionate about being the voice for those who need vaccines and infectious disease support. Transparency and communication with people are key, because so many people don’t know about the resources that are available to them. Nonprofits are a great way to really provide for and serve people, no matter their situation. ‘No’ is not an option for Brooke and the work she is doing, and she will continue fighting for what she believes in.
About Brooke Desantis:
Brooke DeSantis is the founder of The Love for Lochlin Foundation, bringing awareness to sepsis. Her mission with this foundation is to prevent, educate, and drive awareness to the deadly impacts of infectious diseases like influenza (the flu) and COVID-19.
Through this foundation, she has been able to organize free vaccine clinics for the community. Brooke is also a member of the Leadership Frederick County class of 2023. She is someone who truly embraces the ‘no is not an option’ mindset, and follows through on her passion.
Connect with Brooke:
Episode Timestamps:
- Brooke’s story of starting and now leading a community foundation {1:22}
- The issue with flu vaccine shortages and people not being able to receive them {6:57}
- Brooke’s goals for the Love for Lochlin Foundation {9:19}
- Brooke’s ‘no is not an option’ mindset, and how she helps others she is working with embrace this mindset {10:28}
- How Brooke stays motivated and continues fighting for what she believes in {16:59}
- Winning an Emmy in their son’s name {19:34}
- What types of symptoms to look for with sepsis {20:51}
- How people can get involved/support their community more regarding sepsis education {24:03}
“As a nonprofit, it's not us. It's not about serving me, and not about serving that other organization. We’re out to serve the people, not ourselves, and that’s what I try to remind everybody, every day. One of the most frustrating things as a nurse is you have patients that are coming in the door. You treat them, regardless of anything, and give them the best care possible. Then, they're coming right back in, but they're not getting the resources that they could utilize. When working together like this, it’s almost like a family, and that’s serving as a nonprofit.”
Connect with Rachel Harrison:
https://traumaspecialistsofmd.com/
https://www.frederickchamber.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trauma_specialist/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064008974101&mibextid=LQQJ4d
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-harrison-81a4796/