Making connections: Letita Aaron links employees with colleagues, community

In one word, my role at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is about connections.

Employees come to work at St. Jude from around the world, and my work in Human Resources is important because it links employees to each other as well as the Memphis community.

I coordinate a new initiative called Dinearounds, which allows our faculty and staff members to gather for small casual dinners at restaurants in the Memphis area to meet new colleagues from other departments.

At Dinearounds, there can be someone from research, clinical and support all at the same table, and the conversation gets very interesting because everyone wants to know what they do at St. Jude. It’s been really cool to see people from other departments come together and become friends.

My work on Dinearounds has been most enjoyable, because it pairs my love and knowledge of Memphis food with my role of bringing employees together.

I also help connect employees to the Memphis community through projects such as Memphis Mentors, Memphis Mojo tours and Martin Luther King Jr. Day service projects. Another part of my job is connecting people to the institution by supporting our Talent Acquisition team with communications for social media platforms such as Glassdoor and LinkedIn.

My background in writing, communications, education and community engagement have been valuable assets in my role. I’ve been a newspaper reporter in a small Ohio town, director of communications for the Tennessee Achievement School District and a communications manager for the Memphis Teacher Talent Initiative. But since starting at St. Jude in February 2017, I have found my niche.

I like the fact that my work is a lot more strategic at St. Jude. Having a flexible schedule and working with people on other teams who step up to support the work has been great.

My role is sort of like being Julie, the cruise director from The Love Boat. I get to plot out the activities, and there’s a lot going on. But at the end of the day, it’s all about connections.