St Louis, Missouri, United States
I’ve taken two big risks in my career. It’s much more exciting and satisfying to follow your dreams and reach for the stars than to play it safe with the work you know. Calculated risks are a good thing!
After spending 20 years as a registered nurse, I started the non-profit agency, Nurses for Newborns, in 1989. While under my leadership, the organization grew to 95 employees across two states and 42 counties and a $4.5M budget. I retired from Nurses for Newborns after winning the Civic Ventures’ Purpose Prize in 2007. I then started a company called Dynamic Change, LLC in order to share what I know about starting non-profit organizations.
My true passion is listening to others and helping them understand how to reach their dreams. I have reinvented myself enough to know that anything is possible and I love helping others reach their own personal possibilities.
My areas of specialization are organizational assessment, strategic planning, fund development plans and sustainability plans. I will help you find the way -- to realize your own dreams. I will share whichever part of my non-profit experience will help you make a transition into non-profit like I did or hone your existing non-profit management skills. I look forward to working with you!
I saw a need and I jumped into action. I started Nurses for Newborns when I saw babies needlessly dying in the emergency room from preventable causes. I started a non-profit agency that offered free home nurse visitations to educate and care for at-risk babies.
It was hard to step away from a regular paycheck to start a non-profit, but I am so glad I did it. For my efforts, I was awarded the Oprah Winfrey “Use Your Life” Angel Award, The Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Award, the Civic Ventures Purpose Prize, Women’s Day “Women who Inspire Us” Award and was invited to the White House by Presidents Obama and Bush. But, of course, what I am most proud of is the number of lives we’ve saved, teen pregnancies prevented, reducing child abuse and growing an organization to cover two states.
I was a registered nurse with 20 years of hospital experience working with newborns before founding Nurses for Newborns. I am also a lay minister and have worked with several health organizations as well as faith-based organizations as a consultant. My work has been featured on the CBS Early Show, the Hallmark Network, PBS, the Wall Street Journal and the American Journal of Nursing.
After such success, I was proud of what I did, but at age 67, was getting tired of having to raise $4.5 million a year, supervising 95 employees in two states and endless travel. I sought a better work/life balance, but knew I still wanted to make a difference in the world. Hence, I founded Dynamic Change, LLC to share everything I knew about growing an organization from the kitchen table up.
I now work with non-profit organizations, helping them grow and thrive. I love the autonomy, the opportunity to work with entrepreneurs and creative people from all walks of life. I work all over the US from Texas to Alaska and I enjoy the travel and, most of all, I enjoy making a difference in the world.