Faces of Habitat: Meet Andrea

Faces of Habitat is our ongoing blog series where we shine a light on the amazing people who make Greater Green Bay Habitat for Humanity what it is. 

This month, we're featuring our Marketing & Communications Director, Andrea. 

Andrea has been with Greater Green Bay Habitat for Humanity for six and a half years, starting as the Marketing & Communications Manager in 2020. "There is a tremendous amount of pride reflecting on my time with Greater Green Bay Habitat, which started with the 119th home build. Now, I have the honor of being just a small part of the process, and I've witnessed 34 homes be built and sold since then (and counting, of course)."

Keep reading to learn more about Andrea!

What is your favorite part about working with Habitat? In other words, what is your why?

My favorite part of working here is waking up every day feeling excited to come to work. It is very humbling to be able to practice what I love doing for a profession, and I find so much fulfillment knowing that the work has a profound purpose. I love that I'm able to work for an organization in my local community that is making an impact right in our own backyard. 
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What is one moment that stands out from your time at Habitat?​

My first time being on a build site, learning about the vast backgrounds and experiences of some of our dedicated regular volunteers. During my first weeks, I was "on the job" and joined the volunteers on Chicago Street to check off the finish work. Warren, a dedicated volunteer who had been with our organization for many years at that point, did his best to teach me how to use a coping saw. I think Warren gave up on me after several failed attempts and quickly reassigned me to securing doorknobs (on doors that were 90% complete, I might add).

Aside from a good laugh, I got to know some of the crew very well, and, having just entered the nonprofit sector, was completely enamored that one volunteer was a retired mechanical engineer, another was a business executive, while another ran a very successful business. It struck me to know that there were people who cared so deeply about making our community better that they dedicated days — yes, plural -- every week (for a full eight hours) to volunteer with our local nonprofit when they very well could have been doing anything else with their retirement time.

That moment was pivotal in my perspective of the dynamic backgrounds our volunteers have and how much dedication there is to the mission of Habitat for Humanity.

What is something you love to do when you're not at work?

I have several hobbies outside of the office, but most of all, I love to go home and spend time with my family. Since my two daughters are at the age when hanging out with mom isn't "cool" anymore, and my husband works into the later evening hours, that leaves me with the dog. In the dog's defense, he is a corgi! Jack is our first family dog and has basically become my third child, so I'm not ashamed to admit that he gets an excessive amount of attention.

When I'm not fully consumed with giving Jack my undivided attention -- plot twist -- I do love a great jigsaw puzzle! And -- another plot twist —​ having a dog makes puzzling difficult because he apparently likes to eat cardboard. No puzzle has 100% of its pieces anymore, which kind of takes the fun out of it. 

Just for fun: if you could instantly become an expert at anything, what would it be?

Rocket science! After coming to terms with my distaste for mathematics, I opted not to attend university for aerospace engineering. I fully admit that I wasn't ambitious about applying myself to academics that required an exorbitant amount of studying... but I did have a fascination with speed, fighter jets, and NASA. Today, the thought of rapid movement or G-force makes me nauseous just thinking about the motion sickness, but it would have been a freaking awesome career to be part of a jet propulsion lab!