Natachia Randles

My journey into health and human services was unexpected. I originally went to college planning to major in biology and work for NASA, but my path shifted when I discovered other interests during my undergraduate years. While in college, a friend doing an internship at a local school asked me to help strategize for a reading program. I created a strategy, presented it to the children, and the school district ended up adopting my program as part of their curriculum. This experience led me into education, and I began teaching young students. As a military spouse, I moved to a new military base mid-year when all teaching positions were filled. While at the local library trying to figure out my next steps, a woman struck up a conversation with me and suggested I look into social services. I had no familiarity with social services at all, but I went online, put in an application, got an interview, got hired, and the rest is history. That one conversation changed everything. Over the past 20 years in health and human services, I served as an executive director of a local Department of Social Services agency, overseeing a $9 million budget and serving over 18,000 individuals. For the last 4 years, I have been in my current state government role where I work closely with the governor, lieutenant governor, secretaries of health and human services, and senators across Virginia. I am involved in policy-making decisions and stand before the legislature on new policies to ensure Virginia families have the most up-to-date guidance around health and human services. I serve as a liaison between state offices and local governments, engaging daily with mayors, city managers, and county administrators throughout Virginia. My work reaches across all departments under the Health and Human Services umbrella and extends to community partners including police, fire, EMS, schools, housing authorities, and more. I am most proud of my work over the last 3 years as special advisor to the governor for a partnership initiative with one particular city, tackling critical issues in women's health and infant mortality. As I look toward retirement in the next 4 years, I am launching my consulting business globally, and I see this recognition as helping me rebrand myself for this next chapter of my journey.