Meet Marisa Sheldon

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marisa Sheldon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Marisa, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?

My optimism comes from seeing change happen! There is endless work to do to create more Age-Friendly Communities. An exciting and hard part of this work is that there is no ‘finish line’, the work can never be ‘done’. When I think about the success and change, big or small, that happened since the work started in 2016 to create a more Age-Friendly Columbus and Franklin County, my hope and optimism is reinforced and refreshed.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Being a licensed Social Worker is an important part of my identity and foundational to my role as the Director of the Age-Friendly Innovation Center and Age-Friendly Columbus and Franklin County, at the Ohio State University, College of Social Work. I completed my undergrad and graduate program at the Ohio State University College of Social Work and then spent the start of my career with a focus on clinical services to older adults and caregivers at a hospice and the Alzheimer’s Association. I then had the chance moved towards more macro focused practice in social work education, expand my knowledge beyond the aging network and identified an unexpected passion for working with students. In 2018, I joined the Age-Friendly Columbus and Franklin County team as the Assistant Director. This role was an opportunity to engage my passion for working with older adults, students, and community organizations. In my time at Age-Friendly I identifies one of her biggest focuses as the opportunity to encourage students of all ages and backgrounds to add the ‘aging lens’ to their future career. As someone who aspires to grow old, I am dedicated to ensuring the voice of older adult’s ground community change to create more livable communities for all people. I have two young children and believes building a better community for older adults will also mean a better community for my children.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

First, I believe a willingness to be humble in my work has been critical. I see myself living this value as I turn to community members for their ideas, insights, and innovations. As I think about advice for those early in their career, I usual reflect on how much more powerful it is to admit you do not know the answer to a question, rather then trying to look like someone who knows every answer. Second, I strongly align with a core value of the Social Work profession, the dignity and worth of all people. I believe this keeps me grounded and dedicated to inclusion in my work. Finally, my interest in life-long learning. I work with interdisciplinary students in my role and it is a constant reminder of how much we all have to learn.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?

As I think about my work, so often the challenges in our community in supporting residents as they age across all aspects of life, come back to ageism. Ageism is so deeply ingrained in our culture even those that are deeply commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion often do not see the ways in which they are or perpetuate ageism. I encourage everyone to pause and reflect on the ways they talk about their own aging or the older adults in our community. Do you joke about it being your ’29th birthday again’? Do you tell someone they ‘look great for their age’? Have you ever thought ‘I am too old to wear that/say that/do that”? All of these are examples of ageism!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://agefriendly.osu.edu
• Facebook: agefriendlyOH
• Linkedin: agefriendlyOH
• Twitter: agefriendlyOH