Behind the Resume #68 – Daria Willis

Daria Willis - New Employee Photo

What is your title at EvCC, and what will you be doing in your day-to-day endeavors at the College?

President. My job is to ensure that every person at the College has the tools they need to succeed.

Tell us a little about your professional background.

Daria and her mom at High School Graduation
High School Graduation with my mom

I started in higher education as an adjunct professor teaching history at Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College. While working on my graduate degrees, I also worked at the Museum of Florida History and the John G. Riley Center for African American History and Culture. There was one point when I worked four jobs at one time to make a decent living. I relocated to Houston, Texas for a tenure track teaching position in 2010. Shortly thereafter, I became a department chair, faculty senate president, and dean of instruction. In 2016, I moved to Syracuse, New York to serve as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Onondaga Community College until June 2019. In essence, I have lived in Georgia, Florida, Texas, New York, and now Washington.

What was your most memorable job? Why?

Daria playing trombone
FAMU Marching 100

I LOVED working at Victoria’s Secret in college. I especially enjoyed the exclusive employee discounts on merchandise! Most importantly, I appreciated the opportunity to help women and transgender individuals feel beautiful and more confident in themselves regardless of their shape and size.

Do you recall having an embarrassing moment at work?

Daria with her family
Family photo 2019

It was my first year working in Syracuse, New York. There was a snow storm the night before and the college opened the next day. As I was walking into the building without snow boots, I slipped and fell on a patch of ice in front of my peers. Talk about embarrassing!

What does a typical day look like for you?

Daria with family
First Xmas cruise 2015

I usually get started around 5:30 in the morning. After reading my daily devotional, checking my different social media pages, and reviewing emails and text messages on my phone, I ride my Peloton bike for twenty to thirty minutes while the house is quiet. I rarely eat a large breakfast in the morning, so I will have one of my husband’s famous blueberry smoothies and I am out the door headed to campus no later than 7:00. When I make it to the office, I like to have a little moment to get the blood flowing by turning on Spotify. I typically listen to Jazz, Hip-Hop, R&B, or Gospel music. It really depends on my mood.  At that point the day begins. Over the years I have learned the importance of expecting the unexpected. Anything can change my schedule and I try to stay mentally prepared for the unexpected. At the end of the day when I make it home, I focus on my family. I’ve got three little ones and they all need a different level of attention. Once the kids are sleeping, I binge watch TV shows with my husband, say my prayers, and I go to sleep to get ready to start the cycle again.

Daria as a baby with her older brother
Baby pic with my big brother

Describe yourself at 10 years old.

Very bossy. Ask my older brother.

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would you like to see cast as you?

Sanaa Lathan—although I cut my hair first.

What is your favorite meal/ snack in summer?

Grilled Salmon and Asparagus

Favorite summer beverage?

 Daria and Imani
Daria and Imani

Cucumber infused water with ice

What would be the title of your autobiography?

I’m Coming After Everything They Said I Couldn’t Have

Tell us three things most people don’t know about you.

  • I have 6 tattoos
  • I played 4 instruments in high school
  • I hate chocolate cake

What is a defining moment in your life?

Daria as a young child with her dad
Me and my dad

My father died when I was six years old, leaving my mother to raise two children alone. It was terrible and a hard pill to swallow. I realized that life is promised to no one. I live each day as if it were my last. He is my Guardian Angel.

What children’s character can you relate most with? Why?

Couples vacation Vegas wax Museum
Couples vacation Vegas wax Museum

I was a huge fan of A Different World. I even believed Hillman College was a real school. That show was so important to my growth as a young adult. It was because of A Different World that I chose to attend a Historically Black College and University after high school. Freddie Brooks was one of my favorite characters because of her free spirit. She defined her own path. I’d like to think I am doing the same.

What is your favorite book? Favorite movie? What makes these choices your favorites?

Book—Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement by Barbara Hansberry

Family pic in TX 2016
Family pic in TX 2016

Movie—Coming to America with Eddie Murphy

I fell in love with Ella Baker in graduate school. She was a radical visionary that did not take no for an answer. Mrs. Baker loved her people and she was a pioneer in the Civil Rights Movement, often telling the men of the movement to make room for women leaders. It is our time.

I have always been a fan of Eddie Murphy. Coming to America is my absolute favorite movie. I know it word for word. It is probably the song “Soul Glow” that has me addicted!

Halloween Syracuse, NY with my team in Academic Affairs
Halloween Syracuse, NY with my team in Academic Affairs

What are you reading right now/ what was the last book you read? Are you participating in any reading challenges?

I am reading Presidential Transitions from the ACE Series on Higher Education. No reading challenges at this time.

What do you like most about your job?

I love having the ability to make a positive difference on thousands of lives each and every day by the stroke of a pen.

Where is your hometown? Were you born and raised in the same place?

Grand Canyon 2016
Grand Canyon 2016

I am a Georgia Peach. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia until I turned 17.

Best memory of your childhood?

My mother took me to the Cabbage Patch Hospital for my birthday. Understand, this is when Cabbage Patch dolls were popular. I was able to watch my doll being born out of an actual cabbage. I named her Elizabeth, received her birth certificate, and purchased all of her newborn essentials in the hospital gift shop. It was a real treat!

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Right here at Everett Community College

Daria at the Houston Food Bank
Service learning project at the Houston Food Bank while a dean in TX. I’m in the front laying on the floor.

What do you like to do on your days off?

Sleep

Do you have a favorite quote/ piece of advice?

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have taken the side of the oppressor.” Desmond Tutu

Behind the Resume #67 – Chris Harter

What is your title at EvCC, and what will you be doing in your day-to-day endeavors at the College?

Chris Harter - new employee photo

Associate Director of Operations at AMTEC.  Supporting staff, students and faculty in day-to-day operations of AMTEC, providing support around safety and student retention.

Tell us a little about your professional background.

Most recently, I was working for Valley Cites Behavioral Health as an employment specialist. I served individuals recovering from substance abuse and mental health issues, assisting them with finding and keeping employment.

Prior to that position, I worked at LWTECH in Kirkland for over 17 years.  While there, I advised and did outreach for the College’s WorkFirst program, I was the manager for student programs, Title III director for student retention activities, assistant director of advising and assessment center, and Director of Admissions and Outreach.

Before working at LWTECH, I worked at the Snohomish School District running an AmeriCorps program that served youth in academic support and mentoring.

Additionally, I served as a VISTA in Cleveland Ohio, and as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Yemen.

What was your most memorable job? Why?

Peace Corps volunteer; I could never see the world the same way.  It changed my path.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Pickles the cat
Pickles the cat, doing what he does

Awoken by a demanding feline, Pickles, for morning discussions concerning food.

Right now, coming to AMTEC and learning all about the programs, about EvCC and meeting staff, faculty and students. Lots of listening and learning.

Describe yourself at 12 years old.

I believed I was destined to be an incredible basketball or baseball player.  I lived with extended family, so I spent lots of time with my grandfather shooting baskets in the driveway, walking our family dog, playing in the creek and woods in the backyard, and helping our neighbors with their horses. 

What is your favorite meal/ snack in summer? Favorite summer beverage?

Nachos anytime; Iced tea

What would be the title of your autobiography?

She Thinks She is Hilarious

What is the first concert you attended?

Journey – at the Cleveland Coliseum – it was quite a while ago.

What is a defining moment in your life?

Returning unexpectedly from the Peace Corps after enduring civil war in the country where I served. My service changed the way I view service and honestly, the privileges that I have.

What are you reading right now/ what was the last book you read? Are you participating in any reading challenges?

Not in any reading challenges.  Trying to finish Middle Age by Joyce Carol Oates, and starting the Gorilla and the Bird by Zack McDerrmott

What one food do you wish had zero calories?

PIZZA

Where is your hometown? Were you born and raised in the same place?

Wadsworth, OH; Lived in Ohio until 1996

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Engaged in work that challenges me and makes a difference in individual’s lives; learning to be a yoga teacher.

What do you like to do on your days off?

Luna the dog
Luna the dog on centennial trail outside of Arlington

Walking with my partner and Luna the dog anywhere where there is a trail with good things to sniff (Luna sniffs we watch her).

On a non-outside day reading, good true crime, knitting.

Do you have a favorite quote/ piece of advice?

“DIG deep – get deliberate, inspired and going.” Brene Brown

Behind the Resume #66 – Ashley Randall

What is your title at EvCC, and what will you be doing in your day-to-day endeavors at the College?

Ashley Randall new employee photo

Wellness Coordinator.

Tell us a little about your professional background.

I graduated from Humboldt State University in 2012 with a B.A. in Communication Studies. For the last four years I lived on the San Juan Islands working within the local agriculture scene. I worked as a produce clerk at our food co-op, a farm-hand on an organic farm, a maker at a botanical apothecary, and the director of the public school’s Farm to School program. I recently completed my certification as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner with the Nutritional Therapy Association.

What was your most memorable job? Why?

My job at the Orcas Island Farm to School Program. I was granted a lot of creative freedom to design and implement garden-based curriculum for K-8 students. I loved connecting with students through growing and cooking food and learning from the island’s local botanists, chefs, bakers, homesteaders, marine biologists, fermenters, farmers and beekeepers. 

What does a typical day look like for you?

Morning routine, bike to work, work, bike home, evening routine

What is your favorite meal/ snack in summer? Favorite summer beverage?

Meal: Chicken salad with roasted sunflower seeds over a bed of freshly harvested salad greens

Beverage: Soda water with muddled strawberries and basil

Ashley cooking over an open fire
Open fire cooking on Orcas Island

What is the first concert you attended?

Olivia Newton John….I was 9 years old and waited the entire concert just to hear her sing two songs from the movie Grease.

What is a defining moment in your life?

Meeting my partner.

What are you reading right now/ what was the last book you read? Are you participating in any reading challenges?

I just finished reading Wired to Eat by Robb Wolf

What one food do you wish had zero calories?

Sourdough bread

Where is your hometown? Were you born and raised in the same place?

Born in Los Angeles and Raised in Ocean Beach, California.

Ashley and cousins hiking in snow
Snow hiking out to Lava River Cave in Flagstaff, AZ with my cousins

What do you like to do on your days off?

Garden, meal prep for the week, listen to podcasts on all things wellness, bead earrings, read tarot, explore new terrain, and spend time with my partner.

Do you have a favorite quote/ piece of advice?

From Rupi Kaur

brief poem in image