Gloria Rybinski

I'm originally from the Dominican Republic, where I went to law school and graduated with a law degree. When I came to the States, I started working for the county and got into the public information field with a deep dive, basically surrendering myself to it. I obtained many certifications, including two that make me the most proud: the Master Public Information Officer from FEMA and the Master Public Information Officer from FBI LIDA (likely FBI LEEDA). I'm also accredited with the Center for Public Safety Excellence as a public information officer. While all of that was going on, I was still working on the records side to obtain a very good understanding and domain of Chapter 119 and Chapter 286, Florida Statutes. I served as Public Information Officer and Records Manager for about 15 years before transitioning exclusively to Records Manager in 2023 when our new attorney felt the records department fit better under the legal department. I was given the opportunity to step up to the manager position only, and my employer was generous enough to allow me to continue to do public information work outside of the county, which was a win-win situation because I get to do the two things that I love. After going fully into records management, I joined the Florida deployment team for public information, and during emergencies, I get deployed to other communities to assist them with their public information needs. Both records management and public information have my heart. In records management, I'm the point of contact here in the county when it comes to records management, records preservation, and public records requests. I also work with the Sunshine Law, providing education to the departments and other places within the community so they can understand how the Sunshine Law works and how they can access public meetings and public records.