Dr. Diana Kuzma

I attribute my success to being hands-on and learning through real experience in the field. I tell people I wasn't an office social worker - I was actually in the field, and I interacted with individuals every single day. Everything that I've learned is because I've been hands-on. You can learn education-wise through school, but honestly, pretty much everything I know is from learning hands-on experiences, learning what's worked in the past and what hasn't, and taking that knowledge and using it to help others in combination with my educational credentials. I also credit a remarkable resident named Ray, a Korean War vet who I worked with as a social worker. He was overlooked a lot because he was rough, but he was a senior who needed somebody to care. I wanted to be that person to change the standard for him, and I didn't want any other seniors to feel like that. As my career progressed and COVID happened, I saw administrators not necessarily always paying attention to the ones who needed it the most. That made me want to get my administrator's license to be the boss, because I wanted to lead a community that did it differently. Here at the community I've run now for four and a half years, we've been able to build a community where we're like a family, where nobody is overlooked. You have to love what you do in senior living because it's very stressful. Otherwise, you're not going to do it right and give the seniors the attention they need.

The best career advice I've ever received is to be humble and take it all in. Get out there and learn. Don't be afraid to fail.

The most important value to me is that aging is a privilege, and there aren't enough people that respect it and see it as such. I want to share that passion with others. I got into the field of helping others because I was a teenager who lost my dad. My dad died when I was a teenager, and he was an amazing person - he was a sheriff's deputy and did a lot of work for the community. My mom developed the first domestic violence shelter in all of Central Florida back in the 80s, so my parents were very civil-minded on how to help the community. When my dad died, I wanted to find a way to give back. I wanted to help people put all the pieces together to make things make sense before and after if something like a tragic event were to happen. I never wanted any seniors to feel overlooked. We've built a community here where nobody is overlooked - nobody. It's something incredibly special, and it makes me very passionate about wanting to share that knowledge and train others to replicate that in senior living, because there just isn't enough of it, the passion behind it. If I'm ever so lucky to grow old, I want somebody to think of me that way too.