Michelle Nguyen

Leadership Portfolio
I. Leadership Biography
Leadership Statement: As long as I can remember, I have always been fascinated
with health and helping others. Growing up in a family where we put others first
before ourselves, I quickly learned the importance of taking care of others. From all
my past experiences and opportunities, the skills I have learned has helped shaped
my interest and inspired me to want to work within the public health field. Through
all my volunteer experiences during my undergraduate years, it has only fueled my
passion to reducing health disparities among certain population groups by ensuring
everyone gets equal access by providing a holistic approach to health. From all the
doctors and nurses I have shadowed who were also passionate about what they do,
it has inspired me to do the same. I believe that being passionate in what you do
can yield better results in what you're trying to accomplish. By setting a positive
example, these doctors and nurses have helped shaped my leadership style and
philosophy, and I hope to one day be an inspiration for someone else as it was done
with me.
Leadership Style: There are several leadership styles that influence my style:
Situational Leadership is when the leader of the organization must modify and
adjust to the development of the team they are trying to influence. I believe my
leadership is influenced by this style since in any given project, there will always be
a time when situations arises and the leader must adjust accordingly to ensure the
project is on track by finding other methods or strategies. Another style is the
transformational leadership where it is inspiring people to follow along and work
towards the common goal. The focus of this leadership style is to make changes
among ourselves, others, the groups and within an organization. My leadership style
integrates this style by ensuring everyone has an equal say in working on a project,
from the beginnings of brainstorming to creating solutions. By developing a
concrete vision, others in the group and organization all know what they're working
towards. Finally, the servant Leadership style focuses on the needs of others, like
team members before meeting your own needs. My leadership style matches this
style since like my personality test; I tend to acknowledge other's perceptions and
try to give them the support they need to ensure a sense of community within the
team. This can then lead to stronger trust, higher morale, and healthier
relationships between team members and potential stakeholders.
Leadership Philosophy: My leadership philosophy includes privilege, since
everyone can be leaders, but not everyone can be successful leaders. I believe that
being a leader is a privilege that must be earned by showcasing that you know and
understand the responsibilities that come with it. Leaders should be able to inspire
others and know how to effectively direct others to attain the vision and goals of an
organization. Another philosophy of mine would be support, within an organization,
everyone is working towards the same mission. By supporting one another, more
ideas and strategies can be developed and implemented to better help the target
communities. Through collaboration and teamwork, members can utilize each
other's strengths to counter individual weaknesses.
Personality Profile: On the Myers Briggs Personality test, I am an ESFJ
(Extroverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Judging). Some of the ESFJ Characteristics

include, being a people-person since ESJFs are extroverted and love to be around
people. I myself like to be surrounded by others whether it's making small talk or
helping people within the community. Having a strong sense of Duty is another
characteristic where ESFJs have a strong sense of responsibility and strive to meet
obligations. I like order and structure so I believe that whatever set of
responsibilities we have, we are obligated to follow through not only for colleagues
but also potential stakeholders in which we are working with. Often labeled as The
"Caregiver," ESFJs are caring by nature and tend to make decisions based on
personal feelings, emotions, and concerns for others. Always the peacemaker, I try
to resolve an issue to ensure there is harmony within an environment. I don't do
well in a hostile environment and try to be careful to not to offend or hurt others so
everyone can focus on the assigned tasks at hand.
Vision & Mission: My vision for public health is for everyone to have the same
opportunities to access affordable and high quality health care by addressing the
complex challenges in each and every individuals environment. My mission is to
provide clear, effective education, research, and services for communities in order
to prevent diseases and strive to achieve health equality for everyone.
II: Career Strategic Plan
Goals & Objectives: My goals and objectives are to: pursue a career working in
community and public health programs with the objectives to begin my internship
at American Heart Association and to assist in developing program curriculum to
targeted audience with the AHA/ASA mission initiatives; provide leadership within
an public health organization with the objectives to plan and implement health
education programs within the community, and collaborate with other health
professional, staff, community residents, and consumers with a focus on the
organization's mission statement; encourage and promote public health education
with the objectives to communicate and advocate for health education with health
professionals, staff, community residents and potential stakeholders and utilize
communication skills through a variety of methods to ensure the media and
communities understand with appropriate use of language; develop policy
recommendations for health education with the objectives of conduct and
incorporate research findings to implement with individual and community needs,
and monitor and evaluate implemented health education policies; and develop
strategic plan within an organization to develop efficient and effective public health
communications for communities with the objectives of develop strategic plan with
measurable objectives and monitor and track progress of each measure objective to
ensure strategic plan is carried out
Values: My values include humility, passion, creatively, communication, integrity,
respect, and consistency.
SWOT Analysis: My strengths include being passionate and energetic about health
and helping others, having strong organizational skills, being a team player but can
also work alone, being a good listener by understanding others and working with
them to achieve a common goal, having ample volunteer experiences in hospitals
and outpatient clinics shadowing nurse and doctors, excellent communication skills,
both written and verbal, and being a quicker learner or will self-teach on unknown
things. My weaknesses include being impatient and easily frustrated by wanting

quick results, stressing over small details by trying to be a perfectionist, too

accommodating of others requests of wants/needs, worrying about being a burden
or hurting other people's feelings so will take on task by self without asking for help,
struggle with balancing work, school and personal life, lacking of professional work
experiences , and limited software knowledge such as SAS, ArcGIS, Adobe Creative
Suite, Photoshop etc. Some of the opportunities include growth potential by
interning with the American Heart Association, networking with fellow peers and coworkers for internship and job opportunities, learning new time management skills
to better balance life, and self-teaching or take classes on software technology to be
more familiar for usage. Some the threats include budget and time constraints to
learn new software technology, large number of graduating students competing for
the same internships/jobs opportunities and little professional experience with
public health
Action Plan: The objective is to communicate and advocate for health education
with health professionals, staff, community residents and potential stakeholders.
Some of the action steps include, hosting a training session to help educate
volunteers of AHA on their role and mission, assist and directing AHA volunteers to
implement AHA mission programs throughout target communities, review past
weekly newsletter to figure out tone of messages and how to structure it,
collaborate with AHA staff to determine upcoming events and activities to highlight
in weekly newsletter. This is expected to be completed within 3 months from the
start date at American Heart Association (June-August 2016). Another objective is to
utilize communication skills through a variety of methods to ensure the media and
communities understand with appropriate use of language. Some of the action
steps include, updating and managing social media through AHA's Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest marketing platforms, setting up managing
booths/presentation information at health fairs and community events and writing
and editing pamphlets and flyers on community outreach topics. This is expected to
complete within 3 months from start date at American Heart Association (JuneAugust 2016)
III. Documentation for Project Portfolio
Past Projects:
Mentorship among Academic Probation Students
In 2008, I was approached by my peer advisor if I could help him with a project of
undertaking 13 freshmen on academic probation. The goal was to help them utilize
the schools resources and to determine where their strengths and weaknesses
were in order to get them off of academic probation. Every 2-3 weeks I set up
meetings with each student and discussed where their problem areas were and
which of the many resources of the school to go to for additional help. Of the 13
students on academic probation, 7 were taken off of academic probation the
following semester, 5 were still on academic probation the following semester, and
1 had withdrawn from school due to family problems at home. This project allowed
me to assess their strengths and weaknesses to determine the best methods to go
about their situation. This assessment helped determined where each of their
weaknesses was which allowed me to specifically tailor a strategic plan for each
student to follow. By looking at multiple perspectives for this project, it helped
provide a deeper look into the true causes of low grade retention.

Website Design to Teach Class

In 2010, the same peer advisor came to me with another project, to help him with
teach an Introduction to University Life but in an online format. This was to
supplement his in-class lecture by allowing students easier access to assignments
and resources without having to access Blackboard and the schools website.
Additionally, I was to grade the students assignment as they were turned in and to
answer any questions regarding university life. I had never made a website before
but I was determined to figure it out. After contacting the IT department and fellow
students, I began to build the website based on specifications from my advisor. This
project allowed me to work with various groups of people to ensure the website was
successful and take comments from students and my advisor on how to effectively
present the information.
Broken Pipes
As mentioned in my discussion posts, one of the projects I was involved in dealt with
a complete renovation of the basements of all the buildings on the complex. The
goal of the project was to repair any structural problems and drywall issues. I was to
assess the strengths, weaknesses, and potential barriers to the renovation project.
This was needed to determine where our potential problems were and how to revise
our approach to reduce the failure outcome of the project. Before we could fix the
structural problems, we ran into the problem of discovering mold within the walls
that had not reached tenants apartments. To meet Fairfax Countys health
regulation, we had to implement another project to get rid of the mold to comply
with the health guidelines while also making sure there were no other issues that
could threaten the health of our tenants. Even though the project had to extend its
deadline and used more resources, this project was deemed successful since it had
met our scope and quality with the mold removed from the basement; we were able
to prevent major illnesses to our tenants.
Future Projects: Types of projects Id work on would involve improving effective
ways of communication in public health efforts, planning and implementing
initiatives to specific communities to building healthier lives, conduct research to
develop new policies, track and manage databases on current on-going trials. Some
of the criteria for projects I would work on include a well-organized vision and
mission. If a project is unclear in what theyre trying to do, it is likely that it wont
succeed since no one would know what theyre working towards which can lead to
decrease team morale and chaos. People need to pull their weight is another
criteria of mine. Many times, I have worked on projects where there is always that
one person who doesnt do their share of the project. We are all working towards a
common goal and it is not fair if the rest of the team has to pick up the slack from
one of the team member. This only leads to hostility and resentment within the
group which can sometimes lead to failure of project completion. While these are
just some of the projects I want to work on and the criteria required to do so, it does
not mean these are set in stone. Working on any project requires flexibility and
adapting to whatever situations are presented is of key importance.
Resume:

Michelle Nguyen

4343 Greenberry Ln, Annandale, VA 22003 Mnguye53@gmu.edu (571) 2366460

EDUCATION

George Mason University

Fairfax, VA
Masters of Public Health, Global & Community Health Concentration
Expected December 2016
Relevant Coursework: Project Management in Public Health, Health Behavior
Theory, Health Promotion Methods, Behavioral Research Methods, Global
Health, Global Non-Communicable Disease
Cumulative GPA: 4.0
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)
Richmond, VA
Bachelor of Science, Biology Pre-health track
Graduated May 2010
Bachelor of Science, Psychology
WORK EXPERIENCE
Vista Gardens Apartments
Falls Church, VA
Assistant Property Manager
October
2011 Present
Collect rent money to meet deadlines each month for a 296-unit apartment
complex and prepare bank deposits slips on an on-going basis as well as
follow up on collections; prepare 5-days notices and late fees
Delegate a staff of five maintenance employees to ensure time efficient
completion of work orders
Assemble delinquency reports in addition to prepare, review and close
financial books each month
Collaborate with property manager to analyze organizational problems and to
improve efficiency in collecting rent. This lead to reaching a goal of $0
delinquency for 53 straight months, as well as reducing vacancy loss to 1%
for the past four years

COMMUNITY SERVICE & LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE

All Gods Children Camp Highroad

Middleburg, VA
Camp Counselor
August
2010
Coordinated activities and supervised six 10- and 11-year old girls at a
Methodist church program for children with an incarcerated parent
Collaborated with other camp teams to implement safe and exciting group
activities to teach campers to work together to resolve problems, promote
healthy eating habits and exercise regimen, and how to effectively express
and address any thoughts or ideas in a positive way
Conceptualized activities such as arts & crafts, exercise and nutrition
routines, story time, etc. for the camp attendees on a daily basis
VCU Medical Campus

Richmond, VA Volunteer
September 2007 May 2010
Worked in the Physical Therapy Department, Burn Unit, Emergency
Department, Post-Ambulatory Care Unit, and the Pediatric Unit

Adapted to each departments challenges and tackled various projects of size

and complexity
Assisted nurses with moving patients and providing supplies
Managed patient records by filing charts and answering phones and relaying
messages
Act as a point of contact for visitors and families by giving general
information
VCUs Alternative Spring Break
Richmond, VA
Volunteer
March 2009 &
2010
Worked with the Young Life Capernaum organization in Nashville, TN in 2010
to mentor and interact with intellectual and developmental disabled children
ages 15-22 years old
Participated with the Fowler Center in Mayville, MI in 2009 to interact with
children that have developmental disabilities (mental/physical challenges,
autism, and traumatic brain injuries) ages 12-18 years old
Developed alternative solutions to efficiently inform campers of making
healthier eating choices, modified exercise moves for campers with limited
mobility, and building self-esteem through camp-like activities

SKILLS

Computer Skills: Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint); SPSS

Languages: Fluent in conversational Vietnamese
Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter