Her Story
About Amber
I've been in my field for roughly 15 to 16 years, and my whole family dynamic and the culture of treating others how you want to be treated really took me into my vision with mental health. I started with some history in medical and nursing work as a CNA, working in the hospital population, but for the last 10 years I've been working with visually impaired and blind individuals throughout the state of Arkansas. As an area manager, I operate three regions: the north central region, the eastern region, and the northeast region of Arkansas. My day-to-day responsibilities include managing the budget for my area, making sure funding is appropriately spent, ensuring my staff is taking care of the consumer, and working closely with vendors. I supervise staff within my assigned regions, manage and oversee counselors, and provide counselor coverage when the region is short-staffed, so I have to step in wherever I'm needed while continuing my supervisory duties. I handle administrative approvals and oversee the regional operations, managing staffing gaps and absences, and balancing both management and direct service responsibilities when needed. What I'm most proud of is being able to see my consumers get to the next level. I have a consumer that is now a state representative, and I had another consumer who was deaf-blind with a bachelor's degree in journalism. There were barriers keeping them from letting go of their SSI check, so I helped them compile a resume and passed it out at job fairs without them knowing where I dropped them off, so if they didn't get a call it wouldn't disrupt their day-to-day functioning. I was able to connect them with a non-profit organization in my city for volunteer work, where my program paid minimum wage as an internship and purchased the accommodations they needed, like a bigger computer screen. That ended up leading them to relocate to Schaumburg, Illinois, to work full-time for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I use a person-centered approach because if you're not taking care of the whole person, you leave something out. I believe every day I'm a walking resume, and my clients are walking resumes to me because they can tell somebody else about the service delivery I was able to deliver to them.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Amber
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my whole family dynamic and the culture of treating others how you want to be treated. I was a teen mother - I had my first child when I was young, and the accomplishments that I have made were a dedication to show other young mothers that it can be done. At the time, it wasn't something that was planned or logically thought out well, and there were a lot of barriers, but I stayed the course. I felt like I needed to make sure that I put myself in a great situation where I didn't have to depend on my mom or my dad. I had the support, but I didn't want to have to depend on it. So I made the necessary adjustments to make sure I still became that successful woman that I wanted to be, even when people doubted me as a teen mother. I also believe it's about wanting it - when it's a passion, you go a little bit further than just waiting for somebody to send you to a training. You go look for those opportunities yourself. I remember that every day, my person is a walking resume, and my clients that I serve are walking resumes to me.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would ask her about her values and goals, and where she's trying to get to - what's your destination, not your endpoint. Where do you want to see yourself in 5 years? Because it's easier to build your profile in short-term goals versus long-term goals. You can have the long-term configured, but you have to kind of navigate the short term to get there, so it doesn't seem so largely impacted. So pace yourself and believe in yourself. One of the things that I encourage myself in my life is to cheer for yourself. Don't worry about who don't show up, because when you're doing it for yourself, you don't get distracted about who's clapping. You have to stay focused to know that I'm doing this for me, and not I'm doing this so that people can praise me. I think people get it confused sometimes, and that throws you off your focus when people don't clap for you.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Because the field that I work in is federally funded as well as state funded, with all the things that's going on with the government, it doesn't really matter what credentials you have, what type of excellent performance evaluations that you have, what type of seniority that you have. Where working for a state agency, you felt like, okay, this is security - we're living in a time where nothing is secure. So I would say that is one of the challenging things, to know that tomorrow you may wake up and not have a job. But can you continue to show up and do your best every single day with knowing that?
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I would say integrity and character are the most important values to me in my work and personal life.
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