I led the Outstanding Nurses Awards efforts for three years running. Our second year, through online social marketing efforts, we tripled the number of nominations we received.

This is 2013’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Jan Baller, who logged 27 years in overnight emergency, most of them while raising four kids.

2014’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner was Be Thi Ho. I wrote and co-produced this video about her amazing story. I actually wrote about Be when I was just beginning to write feature profiles, way back in 1999. This was the first time I wrote a feature story about someone twice. She’s an incredible inspiration for finding what you love and doing it at all costs.