Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Publications
Skills
Accomplishments
Interests
Timeline
Hi, I’m

Cara Sexton

Development Assistant
Shady Cove,OR
Cara Sexton

Summary

- Right-hand administrative professional and published writer/editor with 18 years virtual assistant experience looking to build a career with a vibrant organization to help constellate the synthesis of community, art, beauty, hospitality, culture, wellness, family, technology, passion, and commerce.

- Lifelong learner, committed to maintaining an evolving growth mindset to help facilitate and support a safe, equitable, and diverse organization that scaffolds each team member’s unique brilliance.

- Experience working in nonprofit, healthcare, travel/airline/hospitality, finance, social work, retail, academics, and mental health industries.

Fully equipped, quiet, confidential home office with Internet, phone, print, copy/scan/fax, videoconference. Open schedule availability. Also available to travel. Reliable transport and active passport.

Overview

25

YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE

18

YEARS OF REMOTE OFFICE EXPERIENCE (WFH)

Work History

Action Scenario Events (contract)
Remote/Shady Cove, OR

Executive Assistant/Business Development Consultant
11.2018 - 03.2022

Job overview

  • Provided full-service administrative and clerical support, travel arrangements, phone reception, office management, correspondence, inventory/shipping, and personal assistance to owner/executives.
  • Organized travel arrangements and kept calendar for busy marketing executive with over 250 travel days per year. Managed expenses, business/tax records, vendor and client files, and utilized project management strategies to ensure seamless continued workflow and inventory control during travel periods.
  • Draft/edit/proofread various forms of business correspondence, including magazine articles/blogs, copy for product sales, and direct-to-client deliverables. Create visually-appealing proposals with goal of promoting total-industry growth.
  • Managed event budgets. Procure office and event supplies, as well as scenario game props. Purchase, pickup, inventory customize, pack, ship, and/or deliver supplies.
  • Maintain vendor files and manage product inventory.
  • Idea generation resulting in business growth and increased revenue. Application of design thinking to consult with owners on cornerstone business matters.

InterVarsity Press (contract)
Remote, OR

Anthology Editor/Project Manager
09.2012 - 07.2017

Job overview

  • Ideated and constellated a nonfiction collection of true stories of messy healing laid soul bare against a backdrop of religious community prone to untidy truths. Represented by Chip MacGregor at MacGregor Literary Agency and published by InterVarsity Press in July 2017. Marketing activities continued afterward.
  • Solicited contributors, pitched project to agents and publishers, secured contracts and advance funding, and performed all editorial tasks associated with producing a print-ready full-length book manuscript with a team of 40 contributing authors. The contributors included popular bloggers, conference speakers, and bestselling authors and the manuscript sold to a major publisher in the genre within the first week of agency representation. Several of the contributors went on to publish full-length nonfiction books of their own based on the stories they originally debuted in Soul Bare.
  • Project management of all aspects of project deliverables, deadlines, and edits-in-progress. Liaised between writers and the editorial team at IVP. Began again with new agent and publisher representation for the book after the first publisher unexpectedly went out of business 3 years into the project and I’d already collected drafts, oversaw until completion.
  • Soul Bare was sold and distributed in Barnes and Noble retail locations and all major online retailers. Was highlighted in a category endcap marketing spotlight inside Barnes and Noble retail stores. Book currently holds a 4.3 star rating on Amazon marketplace with reviews calling it “refreshingly honest” and “touchingly raw”.

South Texas Children's Home
Pettus, TX

Residential Houseparent
09.2010 - 10.2011

Job overview

  • Full-time live-in caretaker/foster mom for 8+ abused/neglected teenage boys 28 days per month (including overnights). Supervised all care for up to 11 children living under same roof at once in on-campus housing.
  • Provided all manner of care necessary, including physical, emotional, academic, social, spiritual, etc. This included cooking, cleaning, medical and behavioral management and intervention, involvement in all of children's school/sports/church activities, coordinating with medical and psychiatric professionals, and supervising schoolwork, chores, and life skill development for each resident. Balanced loads of maternal love and nurturing with professional behavior management skill and scaffolding.
  • Delivered frequent summaries on resident progression and regression in treatment to provide recommendations towards treatment plan for success. Developed engaged relationships with each child's teachers, therapists, sponsors, sports coaches, pastors, extended family members, siblings, caseworkers, and medical teams.
  • Engaged whole-child behavioral intervention techniques to deescalate hostile behavior of residents when necessary. Resolved conflicts by performing in-time crisis intervention and close adherence to organization policies and safety standards.
  • Assisting in changing bed linens, washing and ironing laundry, cleaning, cooking, and personal hygiene. Taught independence skills for adulthood such as driving, finance management, cooking, shaving, grocery shopping, and relational skills.
  • Donor and Board member relations for nonprofit organization supported entirely through donor funding. Actively interacted with donor community, wrote newsletter features, speaking at stage functions, attended and/or assisted hosting fundraising events. Made monthly phone check-ins and prepared regular in-home dinners for Board members with resident youth to demonstrate how donations were used.

America West/Mesa Airlines
Medford, OR

Station Operations Manager - MFR
08.2002 - 01.2003

Job overview

  • Supervised staff of 7 cross-utilized gate/ramp/ticket agent personnel. Established team priorities, maintained schedules and monitored performance. FAA security clearance.
  • Informed clients of essential travel information, such as travel times, transportation connections, medical and visa requirements to facilitate quality service. Input customer reservations, payment sources and contact details into Sabre system. Sold /re-booked airline tickets to customers and assisted with trip planning through scheduling, pricing and identifying best transportation routes.
  • Assisted customers with ticketing and baggage check-in requirements. Managed passenger check-in by verifying customers' travel documentation.
  • Communicated closely with ground crew, flight crew, and tow person via headset radio to maintain loading and unloading safety and efficiency. Safely operated various types of equipment such as conveyor belts, push-back tractors and tugs.
  • Maintained positive customer relations by addressing problems head-on and implementing successful corrective actions.

Calvary Community Church
Westlake Village, CA

Department Administrative Assistant
01.2000 - 06.2001

Job overview

  • Oversaw reception support, answered phones and greeted visitors. Kept church records relating to births, deaths, marriages, divorces, hospitalizations, and other events of concern.
  • Assisted with company events and meetings, communications, promotional materials and administrative tasks.
  • Managed complex and detailed projects for executives by ensuring budget adherence and timely delivery.
  • Maintaining busy calendars, scheduling, travel coordination for executive pastor and volunteer team.
  • All administrative and planning activities involved in multiple group retreats per year, small weekly home groups, care team visits to hospitals and homes, fundraising events like golf tournaments and galas, and managing/training volunteer team for each event. Anticipated team needs for upcoming and future seasons; proactive preparation accordingly.

Spheris, Nuance, MedWare, MedTrans (contract)
Remote, OR

Remote Scribe/Medical Language Specialist
02.2003 - 07.2018

Job overview

  • Performed all daily digital transcription tasks, speech recognition, QA, and medical language editing for EMR healthcare documentation. Completed 60-100 reports/day. Used headsets and transcribing software to take dictation of medical documents.
  • Followed ethical codes to protect confidentiality of patient medical information. Tracked and documented processes, communications and report status to remain organized and meet deadlines.
  • Referred to dictionaries, drug references and other medical resources to recognize inconsistencies and mistakes in medical terms. Translated medical jargon and abbreviations into expanded forms to verify accuracy of patient and health care facility records.
  • Reviewed and edited transcribed reports and corrected material for spelling, grammar, formatting, and clarity. Ensured personalized style guide formatting is adhered to for each client. Edited drafts created from speech recognition software.
  • Specialties included: Psychiatry and behavioral health. Extensive work with state agencies on documentation related to youth residential placement and treatment planning.

Education

Goddard College
Plainfield, Vermont

Bachelor of Arts from BFA - Creative Writing
10.2014 - 04.2017

Southern Oregon University/INWA
Ashland, Oregon

from Creative Writing
01.2013 - 06.2014

Future MT
Remote

Occupational Certificate from Medical Transcription
04.2003 - 09.2003

Publications

Anthology Editor, Soul Bare: Stories of Redemption by InterVarsity Press - July 2017
Finding Church - Civitas Press

What a Woman is Worth - Civitas Press
Working Mother magazine

Proverbs 31 magazine

Paintball2Xtremes magazine

Skills

Travel planning, calendar management, booking sites, business correspondence, memos, agendas, blogging, social media, copywriting, donor relations

Payroll, accounting, data entry, records management, research, knowledge management, documentation

MS Office, Google Workspace (G Suite), internet, social media, research, virtual team collaboration tools, editing, proofreading, transcription, captioning LMS, CRM systems Able to quickly learn new technology/apps/programs

Proficient in: Word, Docs, Excel, Sheets, PowerPoint, Slides, OneNote, Drive, Dropbox, Prezi, Canva Basics of WordPress and Adobe/PDF

Experience in hospitality, travel, airline, ticketing and research, international travel planning, vacation property management and physical caretaking of rental property, client relations

Experience in medical and healthcare industries, including behavioral health, mental wellness, human development and behavior, social work, foster care, direct care, emerging modalities for depression/anxiety/PTSD/mental illness, medical records and terminology, EMR, ICD-10 and CPT basics, insurance verification, HIPAA

Adaptable, intuitive, resourceful, friendly, organized, competent

Compassionate, values-driven, detail-oriented, dedicated

Dependable, creative, proactive, emotionally intelligent, insightful

Critical thinking, planning and execution, project management

Accomplishments

Nonfiction Guest Editor - Duende Literary Magazine - Remote - Spring 2016

Guest Artist/Instructor - A Place for Friends Art Studio - Shady Cove, Oregon - 2017-2019

Michael Baughman Fiction Award - Southern Oregon University, Ashland - Oregon 2015

Best New Writer Scholarship essay winner- InCourage/DaySpring - 2011

Best Essay Award - Portland Community College - Portland, Oregon - 2009

She Speaks Writer’s Conference graduate - 2007
Institute of New Writing Ashland (INWA) graduate - Southern Oregon University - 2013
Foster Parent Certification and CPR/First Aid Certification

Interests

Passions and special interests include performing arts, travel, literature and poetry, interior design, mental wellness, home decor/DIY/lifestyle, photography, nature, camping, hiking, road trips, foster/adoptive parenting and advocacy.

Timeline

Executive Assistant/Business Development Consultant

Action Scenario Events (contract)
11.2018 - 03.2022

Goddard College

Bachelor of Arts from BFA - Creative Writing
10.2014 - 04.2017

Southern Oregon University/INWA

from Creative Writing
01.2013 - 06.2014

Anthology Editor/Project Manager

InterVarsity Press (contract)
09.2012 - 07.2017

Residential Houseparent

South Texas Children's Home
09.2010 - 10.2011

Future MT

Occupational Certificate from Medical Transcription
04.2003 - 09.2003

Remote Scribe/Medical Language Specialist

Spheris, Nuance, MedWare, MedTrans (contract)
02.2003 - 07.2018

Station Operations Manager - MFR

America West/Mesa Airlines
08.2002 - 01.2003

Department Administrative Assistant

Calvary Community Church
01.2000 - 06.2001

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Cara SextonDevelopment Assistant