Department: Education
Job title: Administrative Coordinator of the Education Department
What is your main task in the office?
As Administrative Coordinator of the Education Department, my main role is to provide support to those around me. I keep the database up to date with USDF University credits earned by members, collect statistics from participant reviews of programs, promote educational programs, and will soon take the reins of the USDF Youth Facebook page.
Members may call you concerning:
Members can call me as a central point of reference for the entire USDF headquarters. Whether they need to get in touch with a specific department or staff member, or have questions regarding educational programs, I will always be happy to offer help and make their lives easier.
How long have you been with USDF?
My employment at USDF started on July 10, 2023. However, my involvement with USDF dates back to 2011, with my first USDF Youth Participating Membership.
How did you get started?
My love of dressage was founded just outside of Cleveland, Ohio, where I grew up. My neighborhood was located across the street from a lesson barn owned by Julie Taylor, who had competed in dressage through Grand Prix, including under the lights at Dressage at Devon. Julie trained with George Williams, who became my idol at age 11, when I first discovered (and cried over) his musical freestyle on Rocher to Madonna’s Material Girl. That was the pinnacle moment when my love of dressage took hold. Since then, I have not found another thing about which I am more passionate.
What is your favorite part of your job?
The best part of my job is that everything revolves around my truest passion. I get to work with the best riders around the country, and world, through the Organization’s programs. As an added bonus, I can look across the pond next to the USDF National Education Center and see the Kentucky Horse Park’s Rolex Arena, where I rode in my first Great American Insurance Group/USDF Regional Championships, when I was 16.
What is your favorite part of USDF?
My favorite part of USDF is perfectly summarized in its mission statement; Dedicated to education, recognition of achievement, and promotion of dressage. Every action is in pursuit of that mission, combining my career and my passion into one.
Share a little about yourself.
After a decade of begging for my own horse, and working to earn extra time in the saddle, I got my beloved horse Gardist, a then-8-year-old, liver chestnut, Hanoverian gelding, from Lexington, when I was 14. Today, I still own Gardist, who continues to be the center of my universe and as handsome and full of personality as ever at age 19! We are working together to get into shape and earn my final Third Level score for my USDF Bronze Medal, after a broken coffin bone halted that dream four years ago. I moved to Lexington with Gardist in 2016, to study Equine Science and Management at the University of Kentucky. In addition to being Gardist’s mom, I also own a Doberman (Mira) and a Chihuahua (Maple), who are best friends and excellent barn dogs. I’m the youngest child in a very close family of six, the youngest in a loving extended family of 16, and engaged to my future husband, Jacob.
