Lize Williams

Background

About Lize Williams

When Category 5 Hurricane Mitch crossed over Honduras, it derailed my study abroad, but set me on a life path: helping people and motivating others to help as well. After getting my BA in Anthropology and Spanish, I earned my Master’s degree in Humanitarian Services Administration (half emergency management, half international development). I managed projects worth millions of dollars in disaster mitigation and recovery before pivoting into serving as a communications manager, inciting people to get involved, follow their best impulses, and help each other. Because I know that proactive approaches such as public health interventions build stronger communities in good times and bad, in addition to emergency management my work has included designing a state-level public health program, helping design a global health program, and being a healthcare provider. My skills converge at the intersection of communications and program management: • Creating compelling content, narratives, messaging, and collateral • Adapting and reframing information for various audiences • Meeting deadlines in rapidly changing environments (I’ve never missed one!) • Cultural competency and inclusion skills • Building positive relationships and community partnerships • Internal and external communications • Program and project management Since November 2020 I have been thrilled to work as a communications strategist for the Washington Department of Health. In that role I am proud of my work supporting the Washington Tracking Network (WTN) team to increase data-driven vaccine equity efforts, forging new partnerships resulting in public health and environmental data being used by high school students, and making WTN's data and tools easier to access and use. If you want to talk about motivating people to come together and create stronger, healthier, more resilient communities, please reach out to me at elizabet.k.williams@gmail.com!