Leading with Purpose - Aja Ramos (September 2023)

LEADING WITH PURPOSE SOCIAL IMPACT JOURNAL

SEPTEMBER 2023

CULTIVATING THE CONFIDENCE TO OVERCOME BARRIERS THROUGHOUT

AJA RAMOS SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, WESTCARE PACIFIC ISLANDS

FEATURE

AJA RAMOS Life may have taken Aja Ramos 6,000 miles away for nearly two decades, but her journey has been inspired by the countless individuals she has served, ultimately bringing her back home to Guam with a renewed sense of purpose to make an impact in the lives of the people within a community that helped shape her into who she is today.

Now, as Senior Vice President of WestCare Pacific Islands, Aja oversees all WestCare operations in Guam, Saipan, and the Republic of Palau. Her main priority being that she supports her team so they can deliver services within their communities. In her own words, “As Senior Vice President, I am responsible for the overall day-to-day operations, making sure that our teams are taken care of so that we can take care of others, making sure we're meeting our fiduciary and compliance responsibilities with our

programs,

and

making

sure

that

our

leadership team is well supported so that we're able to deliver the services in a meaningful and impactful way that really makes a difference in people's lives.”

Aja was raised on the Pacific Island of Guam, which has

Aja assumed a more administrative role and became a

coined the motto, “Where America’s Day Begins”

manager for a federal grant that was focused on youth

because of its location west of the international date

prevention. Aja shared, “This role was fulfilling,

line, making it a U.S. territory that is hours ahead of

getting to work directly with kids in a school

Hawaii, Alaska, and the contiguous 48 states. When

setting, doing icebreakers, and teaching lessons. It

she was just 17 years old, Aja left Guam to attend

was pretty smooth sailing and it was a lot of fun.”

college in Seattle, Washington. Aja shared, “Little did I know that I would end up there for almost 20 years. I thank my dad for telling me ‘no‘ when I would call and cry, saying that I wanted to come home because I was homesick. It was a big cultural shock for me coming from a very small community into a really big city.”

“After that, I moved into another program where I was managing the largest team at WestCare Pacific Islands under a program called ‘Spark’.” The Spark program

was

a

healthy

relationships

program

targeting young couples with the goal of improving lasting relationships and decreasing incidents of intimate partner violence. While the Spark program is

In Seattle, she would spend the next 20 years gaining

no longer active, it is still talked about and requested

valuable skills and experience as a licensed clinical

by their community to this day. Aja continued, “It was

social worker, working with children with high

an amazing process and it really taught me a lot

psychiatric needs. Despite her initial feelings about

about leadership. The Spark team was one of the

moving to Seattle, she acknowledges that her decision

highest performing teams I have ever been on. I

to stay impacted her life and led her to work for the

honed my leadership skills with the team and

largest behavioral health organization in Washington,

learned how to be a servant leader during my time

but this isn’t where her journey culminated. She

there. ”

shared, “My time there was really invaluable and it helped me to be where and who I am today. My goal, and I think if you met anyone from Seattle, they would always tell you this, was always to come home and contribute the skills, exposure, and experience that I had in the States to make a real difference for my people.”

In 2015, Aja, her husband, and her two daughters moved back to her birth place, the beautiful island of Guam. However, the decision to move was not made lightly. Before joining WestCare Pacific Islands, Aja was

No Time Limit: WPI staff volunteering at the 2020 PIT Count Event until 2 o’clock in the morning.

offered an opportunity to go into a role within a federally funded government establishment, where she would be doing the same clinical work that she has been doing in Seattle. Aja noted, “WestCare was one of the handful of nonprofits in the human services field on Guam. Finding WestCare was almost serendipitous, but I took a chance and did something a little different to sort of pivot my career, all because the mission of WestCare Pacific Islands really spoke to me and I knew the nonprofit world is where I would thrive. “ Love is in the Air: 2019 Sparks Program Couples Retreat Staff.

Leadership Visit: WestCare CEO & President, Aja, and Palau President & Senator.

Media Blitz: Aja speaking on the Spark segment ‘Love Talks’ that was broadcast on local news networks.

Building Awareness: Attending the 2018 Headstart Parent Conference.

However, WPI was not known at the time for its programs

It is no surprise that when asked to share a specific

beyond its Veteran services. But, with support from Aja’s

accomplishment that she was most proud of during her

leadership, her team utilized social media to grow the

journey, Aja shared, “I think I am most proud of the

Spark program’s outreach and success. She continued,

team with Spark and the number one thing would be

“We started promoting Spark by bringing it out into

working with a lot of young women. As a woman in

the community, showing that we were passionate

leadership, it’s important to me to grow and nurture

about the work that we did, and having graduates

other young leaders, especially young women in our

come through. This is when we started using social

field.”

media a lot and we were out there doing a media blitz.

I mean, we were everywhere, and the manner in which we were approaching it was inviting for people.

That’s when we had people start coming up and asking about Spark. We took a program from a struggling lifeless program, to a thriving robust experience that benefited our island community.”

The ability to be a servant leader as the Spark Program Manager allowed her team to successfully deliver services to the people who need them most and grow WPI’s awareness beyond just a Veteran’s program. This set Aja apart as an experienced leader and gave her the foundational skills and confidence to handle her next opportunity: becoming the Senior Vice President of WestCare Pacific Islands.

“Fast forward to now, even though I sit in the senior vice president position, I still have interactions with them. They are ‘power women,’ who have gone from having their first jobs in their 20s to feeling confident about who they are and what they’re able to accomplish. That, to me, was the most exciting piece on the journey so far.”

Today, the members WPI’s leadership team are all women, showing that Aja is an example of an exceptional woman in leadership. When asked to speak about this Aja shared, “While women dominate the human services industry, a gender gap in leadership still plagues our profession. I am not sure how it came to be and it was definitely not intentional, but I am proud to be surrounded by women who juggle complex situations by the nature of the different roles they have in their lives. What I find intriguing is that even though we have such smart capable women on our team, there is one resounding theme that I find each of them struggling with: self-doubt. I believe this narrative is common among women due to societal gender roles.

I strive to be a leader who uplifts those around me by building their confidence in their decisions and in who they are. I hope that each of my team members step into their strength and hold their head up high,

Power Women: Aja with fellow leadership and staff at the 2017 Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce Hightide Women's Summit.

giving 100% Boss Babe energy. “

In addition to embracing her new role as Senior Vice President of WPI, Aja was honored as the "2019 Social Worker of the Year" by the Guam National Association of Social Workers. She also served as Chair of the Guam Board of Social Work, where she led the charge in launching Guam’s first licensure for social workers. Aja’s extensive

background

collaborative

in

program

partnerships,

development,

human

services

administration, program evaluation, and community capacity has significantly influenced her approach to leadership. When asked about her leadership philosophy,

Biba to a Healthier Guam: The WPI team got their pink on and pledged to join the fight against cancer with Guam Cancer Care in 2018 .

Aja answered, “I would say my leadership style is very embracing. I listen a lot. I also help to stretch people a bit.”

Every day, Aja continues to lead her team toward success by striving for growth and development. Aja shared, “I like to do this process I call ‘nerding out‘ with the whole WestCare Pacific Islands leadership team. We do mentoring, so we‘re taking a topic in leadership and look at TED Talks or motivational videos, and then we discuss in pairs about what ways we can grow and how this impacts our team and our everyday work.“ Aja demonstrates by example that there is always more to learn, ultimately leading to more ways to serve their communities.

Setting the Example: Aja leading her team through successful and insightful training.

3, 2, 1. Smile! : Aja and her family striking some eyecatching poses in Seoul during a family vacation.

Success and leadership go hand-in-hand and when asked how she defines success, Aja answered, “When you feel like you’ve made an impact and you found meaning in what you are doing. It’s not necessarily the title or the role, but it’s those day-to-day moments where you feel that the work you’ve done has helped someone else.“ When Aja isn’t spending time with her WestCare team, she loves to enjoy the simple things of life and spending time with her family. Coming from a large family and being indigenous to the Chamorro culture of Guam, she grew up valuing hospitality and close relationships. She cherishes the day-to-day interactions with her husband and two daughters. In addition, she loves travel. Aja shared, “I’ve traveled way more than I thought I would in this position, but I love to travel with my family, experiencing new things, and different cultures and countries. It’s definitely one of my passions. I also like to eat! Don’t we all love good food? I love discovering new restaurants or little cafes.”

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: The Ramos Family celebrating Christmas in matching pj’s.

Rallying Support: Aja and CEO, Ken Ortbals, in Washington, D.C. speaking to officials about WPI’s work.

On one of her most recent work travels, Aja had the opportunity to visit with officials In Washington D.C. to speak about the work done at WPI and the needs that are still unmet. Aja shared about this experience, “What made it a successful visit is that it wasn‘t about me, it was really about the people we serve and bringing more resources to our community so that our reach can be greater.“ She continued, “We are literally on an island. We are all we‘ve got and it‘s important that we grow our

Striving for Excellence: Aja receiving the 2019 Social Worker of the Year Award from the Guam National Association of Social Workers.

infrastructure of human services. So, being able to communicate the impact that we‘ve had on our people and to rally support for more services throughout the Pacific made speaking up easy.“ With most of WestCare Pacific Island’s operations being isolated in an area known as the Pacific Typhoon belt, the WPI team and their communities are normally wellversed in preparing for and responding to natural disasters. Aja shared, “As warnings of a super typhoon intensified, we sprang into action securing our office, finding placements for clients in emergency shelters, and delivering critical items such as food and household supplies.“ However, the effects of Super Typhoon Mawar’s 140 mph winds and rain were more devastating than what has ever been experienced before. When asked to describe the impact of Typhoon Mawar on Guam, Aja described, “Our communities looked like bombs went off in the streets. Downed trees made the roads impassable in almost every village. Homes were demolished, cars were overturned, windows of commercial buildings were blown out, and

Celebrating Culture: In 2023, Aja was gifted a beautiful hand-carved statue during her visit to the WPI Palau office.

powerlines scattered the sidewalks. The land that nurtures us and gives us life was severely injured.

Our lifelines were severed; telecommunications did not work, power was out across the entire island, water was out across the island, and even emergency radio systems were down. The panic and horror we all experienced not knowing if our loved ones were well and alive because we had no way of communicating was harrowing.“ It takes a brave and dedicated team to be able to recover from such a disaster and with the guidance of

Together We Stand: Guam National Guard and Aja at the GUNG Family Symposium in 2018.

an commendable leader, anything is possible.

Aja reflected on her experience during this time of

When asked if there was anything she’d like to say to her

recovery, “Being a leader during this time was an

incredible team in regards to their efforts since Super

absolute struggle. Not only were my family and I in

Typhoon Mawar, Aja shared, “I am forever grateful for

crisis mode, trying to pick up the pieces of what

the support from our President and CEO for

Mawar left behind, but I knew our staff and clients

understanding this and supporting our team and I

were in the same position. Our first point of action

consider myself privileged to be surrounded by such

was to get a gauge on the wellbeing of our staff.“

compassionate, caring, and exemplary people at WPI. While ‘thank you’ will never be enough to express my

“Once we established that all our teams were okay, we

gratitude, I hope to honor you all through my actions,

took stock of clients, though we faced the challenge of

my service, and the legacy we are building for our

limited phone and data connectivity. We checked in on

people across the Pacific.”

clients in emergency shelters with a team of managers physically going to the shelter placements to contact

Aja’s unique journey includes years in various roles with

them. To this day, I am in awe of the dedication they

youth and families from diverse backgrounds. She has

put forward when they were struggling to get through

helped build resiliency in individuals who face barriers,

the challenges we all faced.“

including trauma, abuse, chemical dependency, severe behavioral health disorders, developmental disabilities,

In these difficult times, WestCare’s mission of Uplifting the

homelessness, and domestic violence. It is this journey

Human Spirit shines through every member of the WPI

that led Aja to WestCare Pacific Islands today and leading

team and despite each member’s personal struggles due

an inspiring and committed team. When asked to reflect

to Super Typhoon Mawar, their dedication to helping

on what she enjoys most about working at WestCare, she

others has never wavered. “Our staff returned to their

answered, “What I enjoy most about working at

daily

mentally,

WestCare is our team. The culture that we have is

emotionally, and physically struggling. Some of our

everything because that trickles into the work that

staff lost it all -their homes in disarray. Some slept in

we do and the people we see everyday. If we have a

the bed of their trucks because the heat, humidity,

team that is joyful, if we can have a team that treats

and mold took over their homes. Some of our staff had

people with dignity because that’s how we treat each

families who were medically vulnerable with no access

other, if we can have a team that’s open and

to medical care due to the power and water outages.

embracing because that stems from what we feel at

Some of our staff had parents on the brink of death

work, then we can have a greater impact in our

because they didn’t have enough charge in the battery

community.”

duties,

even

when

they

were

of their oxygen tanks to survive.“ As their leader, Aja found herself thinking, “How can I call on our team to help and care for others when their own lives were falling apart?” Albeit a difficult decision, they all pushed through the difficult time and found triumph on the other side. Aja shared, “Over the course of a month, our managers came together weekly to roll

our

operations

based

on

the

continuously

changing conditions. From creating mobile services to office sharing to fluctuating office hours, we learned to pivot quickly and almost daily, depending on where our whole island was in our recovery efforts. I am happy to say today that we made the right decisions for our staff and our clients.“

Across The Sea: Aja pictured with her fellow members of leadership in Palau amidst Super Typhoon Mawar in 2023.

IT DOESN’T MATTER IF NO ONE EVER KNOWS WHO I AM, BECAUSE AT THE END OF THE DAY, I WANT THEM TO KNOW MY TEAM AND THE WORK THEY’VE DONE IN Aja Ramos

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