Christa Reid
This month's Staff Spotlight goes to Director of Development for the College of Education and the College of Health and Human Services, Christa Reid! Christa is always working hard with different faculty and staff members to pair donor passion with the excellent work happening here at EMU. Learn more about Christa below.
Give us a brief overview of your day-to-day job
As the Director of Development for the College of Education and the College of Health and Human Services I am able to float between both units, working with multiple programs, faculty and staff members on how we can best align donors' passions with the exceptional work taking place. Whether I'm opening new scholarship funds to assist our greatest student needs or helping find program support for specific initiatives, being able to work across disciplines allows me to speak to the many ways we prepare students to become leaders and scholars in their fields.
How has your work/life changed now that we are in the midst of this pandemic?
With the welcoming of our new baby girl, Camila Reign Reid, on January 27, 2020, and returning from maternity leave remotely I never would have expected this to be the 'new normal.' The biggest change for us, and blessing in disguise, has definitely been having both my husband and I working from home with the new baby and our 2 year old, Marianna. Pre-pandemic we would have had more help with childcare, but since we have immediate high-risk family members, we heavily rely on each other to find balance in our work day while taking care of the girls. Sometimes that means working early in the morning, or later in the evening, and that works really well for us.
What is your favorite part about your job?
One of my favorite things about my job is seeing a student succeed or a project/program come to fruition because of the generosity of our donors and partners. At the end of the day, knowing you helped make a difference is a very gratifying feeling.
Can you share a little bit about a day in your life ?
My day is pretty scheduled and usually starts at about 6:30am, giving Camila a bottle, followed by Marianna yelling "Mom/Dad I'm up!"
The girls eat breakfast while my husband and I drink lots of coffee and start our work day checking emails and prioritizing who watches the girls when we have important meetings or calls.
Mid morning we juggle putting Mila down for a nap, and when Mari's toys or crafts do not suffice on keeping her occupied, she's most likely enjoying too much screen time. This is typically the best time for phone calls and meetings, although Mari likes to make an occasional appearance!
Lunch time soon approaches around 11:45 and our favorite point in the day comes at 1:30pm when both girls take a nap
This gives us a few hours of uninterrupted time, which again is a great time for meetings/phone calls until about 3:30pm when both girls get up and play while we work until about 5pm when it's time for dinner.
Our bedtime routine starts at about 6:45pm and once both girls are asleep my husband and I usually finish up some work, or start on our homework because he is in his final semester of graduate school studying Finance at Colorado State and I am in the middle of the Ed. Leadership PhD program at EMU.