Shelbie Hill – Office Manager/HR Coordinator

This is me: My name is Shelbie Hill, and my official title is the Office Manager/HR Coordinator of the Young Women’s Resource Center. My unofficial title is “whatever I need to be that day” as I am fortunate to get to wear many different hats here at the YWRC. I have worked at the YWRC now for 2 ½ years. I am originally from Mountain Home, AR and found my way to Des Moines 5 years ago. I attended AIB College of Business and received a BS in Business Administration this past May. Although my biggest role and accomplishment is being a mother to my incredible 5 month old son, like so many other women I play many roles on any given day: a wife, a co-worker, a student, an employee and a friend.

What I want to be when I grow up: I guess you could say I didn’t really pick this career path; it picked me. What started out as a young girl needing a job to help support herself and husband while going to college full-time turned into a passion I could have never have imagined. With having just finished my degree, I have no idea what the future holds, but I am certain it will be an amazing adventure just like the one that led me to the YWRC.

The icky adolescence: I could tell you my life story. I could say that my amazing grandparents adopted and raised me from the time I was an infant. I could say that when I was in high school and at the most vulnerable point in my life, they both passed away. I could tell you that I felt as though I had no family, no support and no place to call home. I could tell you that I was a loner, that I looked for love in all the wrong places, or that I hated what I saw in the mirror some days. I could tell you that I had no knowledge of self-worth, self-esteem or self-value which led to dating a guy who treated me very poorly. I could tell you that I was able to simultaneously lose and find myself. I could tell you all of those things, but none of those statements would really matter because statistically I know everyone reading this can relate to one, if not all of them. Each one of our journeys is uniquely different, but all have the same common denominators.

What makes me tick: Those common denominators are what sparked a passion that has continued to grow into a wild fire. I see myself, my friends and my co-workers in the faces of the girls we serve. They need support to reach their goals, love so they don’t look for it in all the wrong places and knowledge so they can find their independence and value themselves. The YWRC provides an unprecedented support system, a sense of family and a place to call home. I know that it is definitely a family I could have used all those years ago, and it is a place I now call my family and my home.

Words to live by: “And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain, when you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what the storm is all about.” – Haruki Murakami