February 22, 2023

When did you join UTHealth Houston? What brought you here?
I joined UTHealth Houston December 2012. I had applied for an administrative position and had forgotten about my application. One day, I received a phone call for an interview. During this time, I was contemplating moving to California or to continue residing in Houston. I got offered a position and decided to stay here in Houston.

Tell me about your work history here.
Since the day I was hired at UTHealth, I’ve worked in the Office of Communications. I was hired as the Senior Administrative Coordinator. As our team and services grew, my role expanded. In 2015, I was promoted to Administrative Manager, and in 2021 to Senior Administrative Manager. I have been in the same office for 10 years (I just made 10 years December 2022).

What are you most proud of accomplishing?
Hmmmm….That would be hard to choose. However, on a personal note, my daughter is my greatest accomplishment. I am also proud that I was able to obtain my MBA while working a full-time job and raising her. This opportunity has allowed me to be an example in showing her that education/learning never stops. I am proud that I am still a member of the UTHealth family. I’ve seen tremendous growth over the years and have been proud to be part of these changes.

What do you enjoy most about your work?
What I love most about my work is the unknown challenges and changes. This makes it exciting. I love everything about what I do and finding solutions to creating a workflow that is beneficial for our team. Change is inevitable and allows us to move forward with improved communication, decision-making, and increased productivity. I am thankful for the great leadership and support from my director, Darla Brown, who allows me to put my skills and talent to good use and trusting that I provide administrative and financial decisions that work for our team.

Why have you stayed?
Why not? I love what I do and the challenges that come with it. I am grateful and blessed to have such an amazing director/leader and mentor. Darla Brown has helped mentor me in my career here at UTHealth. The OOC team: Kathleen Atkins, Roy Prichard, Omar Aguado, Roman Petrowski, Carlos Gonzalez, Adnan Ahmad, Danny Palomba, and Dwight Andrews are an amazing bunch and truly make work enjoyable. We are a close-knit team, and I am thankful for my work family.

When you are not at work, how do you spend your time?
When I am not at work, I love spending my time with my wonderful husband and family. We are empty nesters so we get to enjoy OUR time.

We enjoy eating out at restaurants and then creating our own version of a dish we enjoyed. We love cooking together and creating new dishes.

We attend plays, concerts, symphonies and enjoy the museums.

We also love to travel. We get to travel to Fiji (that’s where I’m from) at least once a year to visit my siblings and family. We travel to San Francisco often to visit with my parents, my daughter, and her husband.