New Season New Faces
Meet Blog Writer Dasha Maye
with an Ikigai Interview
Dasha Maye is an Assistant Professor at MUSC and the new Technology and Communication Strategist for Region 2. A lover of streaming, meditation, and international dance styles, Dasha is also the new contributor to the Southeastern Spotlight, and what better way to introduce our new strategist than with a spotlight of her own?
Dasha is originally from Birmingham and went to school in Alabama and Boone, NC (for a B.S. in Psychology and Communications, an MLIS degree, and Specialization in Education). She’s worked in non-profits and academic libraries for the past fourteen years and after seven years of directing an Academic Resource Center, it thrills her to be here serving Region 2.
Pictured Above: A photograph of Dasha–a young Black woman with long, curly hair who looks at the camera and smiles.
This is how Dasha described her reason for being:
Chosen to represent Dasha’s ikigai:
Featured Above: Queen With An Attitude — a painting by Whitney Austin. The brightly colored canvas representational work features a multi-colored female figure in the center, a kind of modern-day Queen Nefertiti with stylish eyeglasses, earrings, a bangle, and long red fingernails.
Do you share a common interest or goal with our spotlight strategist? Do you feel inspired to find your own ikigai?
Wanna nominate yourself or someone else for an ikigai Interview? Just fill out the nomination form!
Both Angela’s shoe game and grant game are on point!
Professional Development Exhibit Outreach
Kaitlyn Ritacca’s Ikigai Interview
- What do you love? Writing, Reading, Helping others, and Learning.
- What are you good at? Analyzing, Reading, Listening, Planning, and Organizing.
- What are you paid to do now? I am paid to assist patrons and my colleagues (in a variety of ways) at a health sciences library.
- What does the world need?
The world needs more compassion, understanding, critical thinking, and patience.
Chosen to represent your Ikigai
Do not ask your children to strive by William Martin
Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may be admirable
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples, and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.
Melissa Rice’s Interview
“I will receive my MLIS from the School of Information at the University of South Florida in May 2024. I have previously worked more than fifteen years in regulatory and standards information and certification, mainly in healthcare information technology and medical devices. I am currently a teaching assistant in the USF School of Information for Introduction to Health Informatics and Electronic Health Records Fundamentals.”
- What do you do with your days? Mostly schoolwork. And grading. And research.
- Anything personal you’d like to share? I’m currently an MLA RTI 2023 Fellow – and I’m excited they have opened this opportunity up to graduate students.
- Research and Special Interests? I am interested in pursuing positions that give me an opportunity to continue research and instruction. I was surprised by how much I enjoy working with students. I’ve always loved research, and my areas of research interest include health informatics, health literacy, and social determinants of health.
- What do you do for fun, find yourself ranting about, or passionate about, what is no one talking about? I like building Legos!!
Sarah Villere’s Interview
While at SC/SCC MLA we not only had the pleasure of chatting with our student development awardees from Regions 2, we also got to have a sit down with our future colleague and student development awardee Sarah Villere from Region 3. Just a few years ago you would have found Sarah Villere working as a Nurse Practitioner in Brooklyn at the height of the pandemic. However, shortly after becoming a new mom she took her healthcare knowledge and experience and made the pivot to librarianship. Now in library school at Emporia she works at her local library gaining experience in all departments from working the floor to contributing to programs for the homebound. Ever curious Sarah is looking forward to finding her way to bridge librarianship and nursing education and diving deeper into the technical side of the field. With a little on the way, she is looking forward to spending her free time with her family, hiking, and exploring her beautiful home state of Colorado.
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