Submitted
Danielle Noonan serves as an Adult Advocate at Prevail Inc., and she’s in the Team Member Spotlight for the month of August. Read below to get to know her.
How long have you been at Prevail and what is your position?
I am an Adult Advocate, and I am in my first year with Prevail.
What do you like most about working for Prevail?
I love that Prevail strives to be inclusive and pushes to better define what that means every day. For marginalized and underserved communities, an organization that has services designed for inclusion can really positively impact a person’s journey toward post-traumatic growth.
Who is your hero?
I feel like I’m supposed to have a really profound historical figure or icon for this question. In truth, I have many heroes, some fictional and some real. At the end of the day, my heroes tend to be writers – specifically comedy writers. The ability to accurately depict what it means to be alive, to challenge your audience to question their beliefs and invite them into stories they may never know, and to find any element of humor in it all…well, that’s some of the bravest work you’ll ever see. Heroic work.
What is your favorite quote?
“If you stay ready, then you ain’t got to get ready.” – James Brown
What would you sing at karaoke night?
I wouldn’t. I would spend the entire night identifying songs for other people and cheering them on if they nailed it or buying them some French fries and slinging some humor their way if they bombed. I might also sing personalized jingles for them into my fork.
What motivates you the most to serve others?
Knowledge is power, and power should be shared. The road to empowerment is a sequence of learning, unlearning, and relearning. When I serve others and can educate or provide knowledge, I am empowering my community to be safer, healthier, and stronger as a whole. None of us are in this alone. We were never meant to be.
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Chili with cornbread and a mason jar of Southern sweet tea.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
I’ve spent a lot of years trying to earn awards and credentials and accolades and milestones, and it’s funny, none of them seem to come to mind as especially important or stirring up feelings of pride. Some of the more long-lasting accomplishments of my life are actually quite mundane: learning how to cut an onion without crying, finishing a book that wasn’t on a syllabus, finding the right hair products for my multicultural blend, or officiating a wedding. The weird, random parts of my life seem to fill me with greater satisfaction than any major milestone. We’ll see if that ever changes.
What animal do you most identify with, and why?
The mongoose. Mongoose are playful and silly, but lethal when the situation calls for it. I’d love to live as a playful mongoose, but I like knowing that if needed, I have my own strength to call upon.
Favorite Prevail memory?
I’m still making memories. Stay tuned…
Favorite self-care practice?
Saying “No.” Knowing and setting your personal boundaries proactively is the greatest gift of time.