Danielle E. McKibbin

I would say it's from a line of strong women who very much dedicated themselves to pushing themselves. My mom is a CFO for school districts, my sister's a CFO for a college, and we came from a long line of educators. My great-grandmother really instilled in all of us dedication, hard work, knowing the right thing, reflecting well on your family and your community, and pushing yourself to make a difference in the world. These strong women in my family taught me to always push myself and to reflect well on my family and community.

Keep your head up, and always keep pushing yourself. Realize that you have every right to be in the same room as anyone else. You were chosen for a reason, and if there's anything that you want to change in life, don't stop because a law doesn't exist or a policy doesn't exist. Be the change that you want to see.

I would say some of the biggest challenges are, unfortunately, the big, beautiful bill really cut a lot of healthcare funding, and that has been very challenging. A lot of people on Medicaid will lose their insurance. It does create more opportunity, though, to get creative and try to figure out what are all of the community organizations and how can people come together and work together to improve the services that are available and still offer services to individuals.

The most important values are to just be good people, be a good citizen, do the things that are right, and make sure that you're reflecting well on yourself, and your community, and your family.