About JJS

Find Your Dazzle: The Power of Peers at Work

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It’s hard to be a zebra in a herd of horses.

I love my workplace—and like any large organization, it has its challenges. An institution generally needs many colleagues with a similar purpose, but in other areas only needs the expertise of one or two specialists.

In my case, I support academics (my alma mater!) with communications: translating the work of one school to the rest of the institution, prospective students, and other stakeholders.

The challenge? Some schools only have one full-time communications specialist. That can feel like being a zebra among horses.

Two zebras with necks touching like a hug
Dazzling zebras (by Nadine Haase, licensed via Adobe)

Some of us joke about being unicorns, but honestly, there are enough of us to form a herd—so I say we’re zebras. And what is the collective noun for zebras? A *dazzle*!

Lately, all of the academic marketing specialists have started meeting monthly. We’ve always shared ideas and advice informally, but this scheduled time together feeds my spirit. We speak the same language. We understand the same pressures. And we leave with tools, templates, and confidence to bring back to our own departments.

When our dazzle disbands, we return to our horse herds stronger and better equipped.

Would I love to connect every day? Absolutely. But even once a month reminds me I’m not alone.

And that’s the point: find your dazzle. Whether it’s a formal group or a few trusted peers, community matters. It makes the work lighter, the ideas brighter, and the challenges easier to tackle.

I’m grateful for my dazzle. And I’m also grateful that it’s not a pack of jackasses.

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‘Baking’ a Case for Project Management

Young woman holds up a measuring spoon surrounded by baking supplies
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If you’re ever invited to a long Friendsgiving weekend two states away, you might not want to invade your hosts’ kitchen for two days making batches of German Christmas bread.

However, since it was our only chance to be with our college-grad-working-in-the-real-world daughter before Christmas, that meant this Friendsgiving trip is the only chance to carry on our family tradition together.

We’re thankful that our hosts surrendered their kitchen. And they’re grateful for the gift of almond paste, rum-soaked raisins, and love.

Young woman holds up a measuring spoon surrounded by baking supplies
The baker at work

The entire process screams Project Management. She didn’t study business but this is a truly fun way to understand the basics.

Clarifying the Scope

We probably need 30-ish loaves to get us through the gift-giving season, and that’s just not possible within the time frame. One batch makes four loaves, and one oven can handle two batches a day. So a realistic goal is 12-16 loaves before hopping on a plane.

Time Management

Over the years, she’s figured out the project’s dependencies. There are two long dough rests between kneading – first two hours, then four hours. The raisins and cherries need to soak overnight at minimum (any leftovers? They can stay in the rum and keep soaking). Bake time about an hour per two loaves. Working backward from those dependencies is her timeline.

And she uses the downtime well, to prep the next step, record her vlog intros or transitions, spend time with the loved ones, and to rest up.

Stakeholder engagement

Recipients have different needs – some need less salt, some are away from home and need the bread frozen to receive later or sent to another address. These are all stakeholder needs to be considered.

Many of those logistic questions can be handled by her assistants – Dad and Mom. We are her assistants, her budget officers, her procurement team. That means a lot of strategy and communication when setting up for a project two states away.

Our hosts? Crucial resources. They surrendered their kitchen for two days and helped with logistics: rides to stores, appliance guidance, and where everything lives.

Tangible Resources

Ingredients, appliances, accessories—essential tools we all coordinated. We did have one communication snafu: she thought we’d bring almond paste from Spokane, Dad assumed it was available in Arizona. Oops.
Google to the rescue: homemade almond paste. Manageable, less expensive, and looks the way it’s supposed to. The real question: will it taste the same?

That’s Quality Management. Standardization matters. Different ovens, different ingredients—those variables could affect quality. She certainly knows what each product milestone needs to look like so we’re thinking positive.

Delicious deliverables

What started as a family tradition turned into a mini case study in project management: scope, time, resources, stakeholders, quality. I think she nailed it. She’s working in a retail bakery now, and these types of life experiences are moving her forward.

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Under Construction – In Many Ways

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Thank you for your patience as my site catches up. I began this portfolio & blog nine years ago and a lot has changed, both in WordPress and in my own career.

I’ve liked showing the fun, creative side of me. I highlighted my creative bursts, the lessons learned from quirky projects. But I should add examples of my daily professional work — B2B communications, project aids, and formatted web content designed to make others shine.

I would rather do the work than talk about it.

Website wireframe

I’d be exhausted if all my work consisted of creative bursts. I like the collaboration of making someone else look good. I like formatting what someone else wrote, finding the rhythm in their words, and making it shine. I like working within a brand’s parameters — tailoring the design and language to bring out the best in someone else’s story.

That’s why, as of November 2025, this site is a work in progress as I pull together a representative sample of the value I bring to organizations I believe in. Thanks for joining me on the journey.

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Slipping – a visual story

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How do 18 years fly so fast? In honor of her graduation, a little tribute to my one and only offspring… and a preview of how I’ll feel in Fall when she’s off to college.

I wish I had a photo of me, her, and the bear Cuddly from when she was young. Suffice to say Cuddly was a dear part of our family until around age 11, when I rescued her from G’s ‘donate’ box. I didn’t need to save many things, but a comfort bear is always helpful :)

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Weave Your Story

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What’s your story?

A wonderful one-act musical called Once On This Island opens with a group of Caribbean islanders comforting a child in a storm by telling the story of a very similar little girl caught up in a storm who eventually proves that love is stronger than fear of death. It ends with the girl beginning her own rendition of the story, as the villagers affirm that stories “help your heart remember and re-live; It will help you feel the anger and the sorrow… and forgive.”

I’ll let others expand on the science behind storytelling and the brain. It’s a powerful tool for expressing emotions and tapping into empathy.

 Photo: Hawai’i Sunset. As the family attended a luau (watered down for haole tourists of course) the sinking sun lured me to the beach. Yes, Hawaii isn’t the Antilles (where Once On This Island takes place) it’s just poetic license. Aloha. 

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