Written by: Jamey Sheesley
Meghan Mausteller is what I would describe as the perfect leader. She is quiet and strong, she does not micromanage, but she is there to help with whatever a team member needs. On top of this, she is very open and is easy to talk with and has amazing leadership skills that help push the blog team to the next level.
Meghan joined the blog team in November 2016. She applied to join BTSADV the fall of her senior year in college. She studied Journalism, English, and Women and Gender Studies. She also worked for two years for a domestic violence center on campus. After around a year of being a blog writer, Meghan was promoted to Blog Director in October 2017. She continued writing blogs until she completely transferred to her new role in December 2017.
She has such a passion to help people and work together with others to encourage healing. “Break the Silence is really different in the way that we work with survivors and the way that we help people in their healing process. We come together to support people who have gone through similar things and help in ways local crises centers aren’t able to do.”
One of Meghan’s favorite aspects about volunteering with BTSADV is being able to work with people across the county and to meet people whom she never would have met before without volunteering for this group. “I feel really lucky to work with an agency like BTSADV and to work with people with so much passion, and they have allowed me so much space to grow from growing from a blogger to a director and they have helped me grow as a leader,” according to Meghan.
According to Brian Nguyen, Director of Communications, “Words have amazing power and strength to help survivors, and without Meghan we would not have such amazing, original content. She has also done a wonderful job in her leadership role.” Brian has worked with Meghan for two years and is extremely grateful for Meghan’s instrumental role in transforming the blog team into what they are today. He hopes that more people will want to volunteer as blog writers under Meghan.
Amy Thomson, Social Media Coordinator, joined BTSADV at the same time as Meghan as a blog writer. Amy remembers Meghan as positive and intelligent and remembers her articles being well thought out and powerful. She liked Meghan right away and came to respect her as a writer. Amy was still volunteering as a blog writer when Meghan was promoted to Blog Director. “I was happy for her because she has the technical and soft skills to back that up. I had no doubts about her abilities or fit for the role, and I was excited to see how much she could grow into the new position.”
According to Amy, Meghan is also flexible, makes adjustments, and assists others or has covered articles when others cannot. “Meghan shows herself to be a strong leader, but there are aspects about her strength that may be missed because although she leads by her strong example, she has a quiet but steady determination about her that helps her succeed in her role.”
Kristen Faith, Founder and CEO, remembers when Meghan first joined the team; she always had incredible articles, and always gave it her all. When the former blog director stepped down, Kristen remembers asking the blog team who should be their new leader, and Meghan was that woman to take over because she was very passionate about her role in BTSADV and she always gave one hundred percent no matter what. “It has been incredible watching Meghan blossom from once a blog writer to now an empowering leader. She deserves the volunteer of the month because she goes above and beyond, and she is so creative. She is a light that I hope to work with for many more years to come,” says Kristen.
Amy, Brian, Kirsten, and I all agree that Meghan has brought so much creativity to the blog writing team and so much transformation so that content that is more original and published consistently.
If you’re interested in volunteering with Break the Silence Against Domestic Violence, visit: https://breakthesilencedv.org/volunteer/.
