Admin of the Month: Nakia D. Whittaker-Woody

Welcome to the second installment of Admin of the Month, a new monthly blog series from ASAP that highlights deserving administrative professionals. 

Our Admin of the Month for July 2023 is Nakia D. Whittaker-Woody, Facilities Coordinator at Amentum and ASAP Advisory Board member. 

ASAP: If you could give one piece of advice to an administrative assistant today, what would it be?

Check out Nakia's video response below! 

How did you get into the administrative field and how has your role changed since being in the profession?

Nakia: I was a single mom at 19, had some college, and needed to pivot from my Interior Design major. Was offered a temp position as a receptionist, crushed it! Was hired permanently within three months, then transitioned to other administrative roles in the office. 

Titles Held: Account Reconciliation Administrator, Administrative Assistant, Procedures Coordinator, Operations and Planning Coordinator, Reliability Administrator, Facility Coordinator. Twenty-seven years later, Facility Coordinator is my official title.

I would say that the perception of the Admin has changed. We have more varied skills and duties now, but most people still see us as the answer the phones gatekeeper. My role actually doesn’t answer phones at all, lol.

What is your professional superpower?

Accountability and Organization are my two main superpowers. They allow me to keep a staff of 30 on task for a multitude of projects. This, in addition to the SharePoint site I designed and created and online document repository, is how I keep a remote and onsite team working in tandem to service 12 Facilities.

How do you stay motivated?

I just love all the flexibility, variety, continual learning, and being of service to the staff I support.

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