ABOUT ME
In the Beginning
I've been very fortunate to work at what I love to do most of my life. I started out as a school teacher, in Nebo, Illinois, teaching fifth to eighth grades for three years. Then I moved to third grade for eight more years. I honestly can say that teaching was the most important work I've ever done. During that time, I earned a Master's degree in Health Education, which opened some doors for me. That degree opened the next door for me.
Seatbelt Years
For seven years I was the Executive Director of the Illinois Coalition for Safety Belt Use during the decade that states were passing their seatbelt laws. I built a coaltion of more than 500 groups and we saw seatbelt use increase from 11% to 69% during those years. The project was a fantastic opportunity to learn about public relations, working with the media, the legislative process, facilitating and hosting meetings. I grew so much during this time.
Good Government Work
Life seems to go in segments and the Illinois Department of Public Health segment was an unexpected, wonderful professional opportunity. I did community development work-interviewing people in rural Illinois who had little or no access to health care. This is where the interviewing, listening and summarizing skills grew. I also did grant work-both writing and reviewing them, more public relations work, and plenty of writing.
The IDPH launched a new training unit and I took a position as a trainer. We were a small, poor, but mighty group. We researched and developed our own sessions and presented them to state and county staff. We built a great reputation for high quality training and superior customer service. I honed my public speaking and training skills and evolved into facilitating groups-some strategic planning, conflict resolution, problem solving. I mentored with two professional facilitators from whom I learned a great deal. During this time, in 1998, I began facilitating groups outside the Department, and Lois Britton Communications was born.
I thought the training job was the best job in my life but the Deputy Director of the Office of Women's Health recruited me to be Chief of the division that promoted women's health awareness, outside maternal and child health issues. That included breast and cervical cancer, menopause, diabetes and obesity, osteoporosis and eating disorders, among many others. We revised the $2 million grant program, developed promotional materials, beefed up the help-line, offered satellite teleconferences, and hosted a science-based women's health conference every year. The years at Women's Health gave me the best management and leadership experience of my career.
On My Own
In 2003, I left Public Health to work solely on Lois Britton Communications. All these wonderful work experiences made me a generalist, really, with a varied background to draw from. I have been involved in meaningful work, with great people and have been pretty autonomous throughout-things the research tells us people value in their work. Lucky me.
