Her Story
About Nolia
Nolia Bernard serves as a workforce development consultant with Ann Consulting Services in Lake Charles, Louisiana. In this role for the past three years, she assists individuals and families across a five-parish area in securing meaningful employment and careers by meeting clients where they are and guiding them toward resources such as education and training opportunities. Prior to this position, Bernard spent 27 years as a business manager in a hospital, overseeing the business office, physicians, and patient accounts to ensure revenue collection. With nearly three decades of experience in service-oriented work, she brings expertise in compassionate, empathetic case management that treats the entire family as a unit working toward self-sufficiency. Bernard earned management training in hotel management and business management from the University of New Orleans. In 2023 she founded Miss Noya's House, a nonprofit dedicated to offering safe housing and support for pregnant young women in need. She attributes her success to the values instilled by her close-knit family, who emphasized achieving goals and helping others do the same.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Nolia
01What do you attribute your success to?
My family was a very close-knit family. My parents always taught us that we could do whatever we put our mind to, and having that as the roadmap. They taught us how to succeed, achieve, and then help others do the same thing. And we've always was taught that. You don't do it alone. You could always help somebody get up as well, and so I think that's would make me be the person that I am today.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
To believe in themselves. If they believe in their self and show it, other people are gonna believe in them, and they're just and then to share their story, share their dreams, share their challenges, because that way, other people know, well, if this person was challenged, and they survived. then I can be challenging surviving as well. And it's okay. It's okay to ask for help, and it's okay to be a help. I think that's my biggest thing, is for people to understand and realize that they do matter, and it's okay to, need help or be of help.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Biggest challenges is that people don't know that we exist, or people think that there's nobody out there to help them. A lot of people feel like people are taken and not wanting to give or to help, and that's not necessarily true. I think that's the biggest challenge, is to get people to bring their guards down just a little, little bit. On the opportunities side, helping families get to where they need to be to achieve the goals that they want, and realizing that it is possible to be self-sufficient.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.