We had the good fortune of connecting with Ellen Belk and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ellen, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
Embrace Change Empower People
Give Voice
Do Good
Offer Strategic Solutions

I believe in these Values so much – they (literally) are the items shared on our company Vision & Values icard found in the footer of each page on our website.

As a Dementia expert & advocate – these values are what drives me to share my knowledge, expertise and lend voice to all of those who family & professional caregivers whose lives are touched by Dementia. My mission is to educate them – so, they can better serve those in their care who are living with Dementia.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I was a Division One scholarship athlete at Marquette University (Milwaukee, WI) on the Women’s b-ball team. I graduated with a Broadcast Journalism degree and began working in radio right out of college. My first job paid $3.50 p/hour. I worked six days a week with no benefits. In those early years, I had to have one or two ‘side-hustle’ jobs to suplement the low paying radio work. Being in radio, on-air and ‘in-the-mix’ was my career goal. So, I was willing to have those ‘side-hustles’ if it would help me achieve my dream.

In those early years, I ‘free-lanced’ for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball & ABC golf. Those gigs gave me access to producers, directors and on-air talent, many of whom gave me great career advice and who also championed for me to get more ‘freelance’ work.

My on-air radio experience grew in the Milwaukee market. Then, I moved to Charlotte, NC in 1996 and landed a great on-air gig as a producer/on-air side-kick for the afternoon drive-time sports talk show in the Charlotte market. This is the job, where I began covering the NFL & NBA as well.

Within about 14 months of working in Charlotte, NC I landed the dream job for sports broadcasters at WFAN radio in New York. At the time, they were the #1 sports station in the country and the flagship station for the: Mets, Jets, Giants, NY Knicks, Islanders and St. John’s basketball.

My career exploded in NYC. I was a show-producer and the game day studio producer for the NY Giants NFL team. In addition to the Monday Coaches show producer for both the Jets & Giants teams, on location.

Ultimately, I left WFAN and was hired by an emerging dot-com company at the time to co-host a nightly sports-talk show on eYada internet radio. (The pre-curser idea – to what would become Sirrius & XM Satellite radio)

However, with that great success, came a great fall – when the dot com industry collapsed and our show was cancelled when eYada ultimately crashed and closed, like so many others in the dot com era.

I was a citizen of NYC in Sept. 2001 when the events of 9-11 happened and that experience changed everything.
I left NYC shortly after and transitioned back to my homebase of Milwaukee, WI. However, the radio & media market was exactly how I’d left it in 1996. Same people, in the same positions at the stations I’d worked for earlier in my career. Having been an on-air talent/personality in NYC was the pinnacle.  When I got back to Milwaukee, I decided to pivot out of broadcasting and into Healthcare.

Hoping I’d be able to leverage all of my communication skills & success into a spokesperson or PR-related position. Unfortunately, no one in the Milwaukee market aligned with my vision. Every interview I had, turned into a barrage of questions regarding the famous athletes I’d interviewed as a sports broadcastor.

It was exhausting and infuriating.
I decided to take ANY job in healthcare so that I could get inside the industry and figure-it-out myself. I was hired as an Activity assistent in a skilled nursing community in a small Wisconsin town.

No training, I was thrown into the fire on day #1. However, as a street-wise New Yorker (now back in Wisconsin) I wasn’t phased at all. In fact, I liked that no one was micro-managing me. Unfortunately, they were completely ignoring me. But, none-the-less, It took me less than 2 weeks in this new role in eldercare to realize…..THIS was the industry I was meant to be in.

I had a Big voice, A bigger personality, combined with communication & problem-solving skills.

– all honed from the 10+ years of broadcasting roles I’d held. And I realized quickly that senior living was painfully old-school, uninspired and in dire need of a creative spirit like mine.

Although in that first job in the skilled nursing community, I didn’t even know how to SPELL the word Alzheimer’s, – I used my common sense, my creative spirit & resources….and within 4 months of starting hadcoordinated the company’s first ever intergenerational reading program between our residents and anearby school. I also got media coverage over the Exotic Pet show event I coordinated in collaboration with a nearby pet store – who brought in a variety of exoctic animals for our residents to experience, in a controlled environment.

That media coverage got the attention of another eldercare company; who hired me to be their Executive. Director of Adult Day Services.

From there my career in Senior living went into super-charge; as I continued to bring fresh & innovative ideas to each employer I served.

And, in turn those employers, invested in Me.  I earned certificates and continuing education credits in Dementia care & leadership.

I would go on to hold leadership roles for some of the biggest names in senior living like Ascension, Brookdale, Atria & Mlestone Retirement.

I started my company Keep In Mind, Inc. (initially) in 2011, after several years of being a Divisional Dementia Care Director for Atria Senior Living.

In that role, I oversaw 24 communities in 11 states. And throughout that time, I was consistently called to problem solve Dementia care issues throughout my Division. I realized that regarledless of what community I was in; the ‘care issues’ the employees were grappling with were very similar. And in my assessment; were often tied to issues within the care environment that triggered those we were serving with Dementia.
So, I left that role and launched Keep In Mind, Inc. with the idea of doing ‘Dementia care’ better.

I ultimately wrote an ‘Operational Manual’ for seniorliving providers who needed a structure for their Dementia care services.

In 2017 two of my clients (one on the east coast, the other on the west) merged. Both of those companies were utilizing my Manual into their Dementia care operations. Thus, when they merged they asked me to join them full time as the National Director of Memory Operations.

I accepted that role. It gave my career a massive boost in terms of influencing operations and employees in 100+ seniorliving communities across our country.

In 2020, during the global pandemic – I left my corporate position to re-launched & re-branded Keep In Mind, Inc.

Once again, with the idea & vision that I wanted to bring even greater influence, support & innovation to the industry through my Operational system and by using an Online & On-Demand learning format – to reach MANY more professionals & family caregivers in the eldercare space.

I now have trademarked The 360 System® for operational success based on my TEAM™ approach.
This brings my entire life/career full circle – as I merge my background in sports wherein I harness the power of teamwork into the seniorliving sector that historically operates in individual silos. Which, results in disconnected services – having negative outcomes for those they serve.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My Shoutout is to my Parents! Bob & Millie. Although my Dad’s life journey ended in 2016, he was my Super-Fan who raised me to believe nothing was impossible as long as you put in the work to achieve your goals. Mom, is currently 94 years old and I’m her primary caregiver. She’s the strongest woman I’ve ever known (and continues to be). Like my Dad, she was the President of my Fan Club throughout my childhood and to this day as a 50+ female solopreneaur.

Website: https://keepinmindinc.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenbelkkeepinmind/

Other: https://kimacademy.keepinmindinc.com/

Image Credits
Wyeth Augustine

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