Meet Vaneasha Danzy

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Vaneasha Danzy. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Vaneasha below.

Hi Vaneasha , you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?

My generosity comes from my maternal grandmother, Mollie Vee Jamison Jackson. She was an amazing and caring person. Her unconditional love was known and felt throughout my time with her which was over 35 years. She always gave all she had to her family. I know it’s because of what my grandmother showed and taught me, showing generosity to others, comes natural for me to do.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am in my seventh year of being a high school counselor.
What excites me the most about my career, is talking to my students about their college and/or career plans that they have post graduation from high school.
I, too, love working with special populations such as students with disabilities and students whom speak English as their second language.
I also enjoy coordinating field trips that are college and career related.
My goals this year include: creating a manual for the School Counseling Department and attend career readiness workshops so that I can work on coordinating a workforce fair at my current high school. This is especially important for students whom want to go straight into the workforce after graduation from high school.

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?

The best qualities and skills that were most impactful on my journey to becoming a high school counselor, were: being empathetic, an active listener, having a willingness to learn, and having good time management skills.

The best advice I can give is to stay true to who you are and your dreams. Put in the work, and believe in yourself.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

When I’m overwhelmed, I pray, go for a walk, and listen to music.
My advice is to take care of yourself and do what is best for you! We only get one shot at life so make it count!

• Linkedin: Vaneasha Danzy