Vida L. Fonseca
New Orleans
Summary
I love my current job, and they love me! I love to hear the "Good morning!" ringing out as we all arrive, ready for another day of service to our beloved city. I especially enjoy liaising with many other agencies and departments, and keeping everybody on track to reach our goals. Unfortunately, the last administration spent my salary on other things, and I find myself without a current position.
Overview
34
34
years of professional experience
3
3
years of post-secondary education
Work History
Management Development Specialist II
City of New Orleans
New Orleans
06.2023 - 03.2026
Online Daily News Digest Editor
GrassTopsUSA.org
Washington
10.2005 - 12.2018
- Changed format & content to meet company’s objectives in obtaining donations & increasing membership.
- Increased number of daily openings & click-through rate, consistently outscoring other offerings.
Field Operations/Quality Assurance/Control
2010Census.gov
New Orleans
05.2010 - 08.2010
- Manage select team to move from department to department & improve flow & logistics wherever there were bottle necks, recruiting pilots & boat captains for canvassing archipelago.
- Read procedural manuals & condense them to a 1-page flow chart, change as necessary & ensure compliance.
- Keep field ops supervisors on track & on time for different operations including largest Update/Leave in country due to Katrina & Rita displacements.
- QA proofing & testing, search for statistical outliers, etc.
- Box, ship & track all questionnaires.
- Data analysis, due diligence & organizational strategic planning, compliance.
- Office & field operations for Enumeration in Transitory Locations: trailer parks, camps, marinas, shelters.
- Training field staff & obtaining space donations for Questionnaire Assistance & Be Counted Centers.
- Responsible for bilingual interviewing, selection, training new hires for field & office.
- Researched, developed, planned & executed grand opening, community involvement & recruiting events. Obtaining donations of food, entertainment & space.
Clerk/Office Operations Supervisor
2010Census.gov
New Orleans
05.2009 - 05.2010
- Answered telephones, handled all non-English speaking callers.
- Greet, accommodate, make restaurant reservations & handle travel problems for visiting dignitaries, news crews & politicians.
- Provided comprehensive management & executive level support; front desk/telephone customer service.
- Ordering supplies, logistics & shipping.
- Entering candidates & new hires into PeopleSoft, entering information from daily time sheets.
- Training & fingerprinting new hires.
Enumerator/Address Canvasser
2010Census.gov
New Orleans
02.2008 - 04.2009
- Conduct preliminary interviews & create maps of habitations, transitory locations & homeless encampments in preparation for the census.
- Prepare daily reports, & enter GPS mapping info into handheld computers.
Instructor
Delgado Community College
New Orleans
01.1996 - 01.2008
- Lecturing in Human Development (College & Career Success Skills).
- Developmental English, & English 101-Composition & 102-speeches, presentations & term papers.
- Graduate-level ESL, freshman rhetoric & composition & sophomore business & academic writing, presentation, & interview skills (LSU 2007-2008 school year).
ESL/ADA Testing Administrator
Delgado Community College
New Orleans
01.2004 - 01.2007
- Collaborate & liaise with other departments during high traffic times; registration, final exams, etc.: cross-training, matriculation, counseling, & translation in the admissions, counseling, & financial aid offices.
- Write procedural manuals & employee handbooks.
- Recruit, select, interview, performance review of testing department new hires.
- Training new adjuncts in ADA compliance & sensitivity.
- Proofreading all departmental communications & budget. Found an error that cut costs by 50%.
- Research & purchase necessary equipment & software for student accommodations & train staff in their use.
- Set up computer labs in 3 locations, install software, troubleshoot problems in stand-alone, networked, & Internet environments.
- Set up scheduling & data collection & reporting system using MS Access, MS Excel & MS Publisher.
- Attend conferences, reporting back on new training & finding conferences, writing grants, & making travel arrangements for entire department to attend conferences.
- Creating marketing brochures, fliers (MS Publisher) & other techniques to increase test sales, writing articles for several multi-campus publications, training new adjuncts in ADA sensitivity & procedures.
- Researching & implementing new testing programs for licensure for programs that meshed with college offerings to increase departmental income as well as college exposure in the community.
- Reading aloud scripted introductions & instructions for tests including complicated Federal licensing & promotional exams, reading to blind & print-handicapped students, making presentations on ADA.
- Training handicapped & newly arrived international students of all ages to use computer software & other adaptive technology.
- Serving on 7 standing committees & substituting on 3 more & setting up schedules & writing policies for the entire college (5 campuses) to ensure coordination & compliance during SACS accreditation process & reorganization after Hurricane Katrina.
- Legal compliance assessment, event management, planning & execution.
- Manned volunteer call center in Baton Rouge to ensure continuity for students, faculty & staff after Hurricanes Katrina & Rita: helping people get death & other benefits, paychecks, online classes set up, computer access, news from New Orleans, etc. to places all over the country to which they were scattered.
- Helped with logistics of setting up trailers to re-open campus. We ended up being the first school up & running & even offering GED & home school programs for people who were having difficulty enrolling in schools elsewhere.
Part Time Temp to Full Time Perm Bookkeeper/Executive Assistant to General Manager
Heritage Sports Center
Metairie
01.1992 - 01.1996
- Directing day-to-day office operations providing fundamental support to General Manager of a corporate health club while he was dealing with an extended family emergency: A/R, A/P, set up new computer contract management & EFT system, payroll, recruit, hire, train & supervise childcare, front desk & pro shop personnel.
- Organized national handball tournament.
- Overseeing administrative budget, handling bizarre emergencies, dealing with vendors.
- Preparing expense reports & credit card/bank reconciliations, daily & quarterly financial reports.
- Purchasing all hardware & software, performing application/hardware upgrades, writing handbook & training staff in use of office computer resources, troubleshooting with tech support.
- Assisting with 2 aerobics classes/day.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Psychology
Southern University At New Orleans
New Orleans, LA 03.2019 - 08.2022
MA-English - Applied Linguistics, Adult & Multicultural Education
University of New Orleans
BA - Liberal Arts, International Affairs, Theatre Arts, Modern Languages, English
Sweet Briar College
Coursework - ABA-Approved Paralegal, MS Computer Networking, Seminars for Private Investigator
College Prep -
Brentwood Academy
Skills
- Superior oral, written, listening, etiquette & large-group public speaking presentation skills
- Teaching, training & instruction
- Research, persuasion & dispute resolution skills
- Customer service, logistics & troubleshooting
- Paralegal, analysis, strategic planning & due diligence
- General office management & supervision
- Bookkeeping
- MS Office: Word, Excel, Access, FrontPage/HTML, PowerPoint, Publisher
- PeopleSoft
- Westlaw
- Lexis/Nexis
- Internet
- Various proprietary scheduling, database, testing & troubleshooting programs
Publications Professional Associations
Recipe (& short story) for Smothered Pork Chops in Cook’s Country: Lost Suppers, "The Teachers We Need & How to Get More of Them," http://www.edexcellence.net/library/teacher.html, 2 Poems Published in World’s Best Poets 2003: Chateaux dans la Brume, Colours of the Heart Anthology Nobel House (UK), Outst&ing Achievement in Poetry Award 2004 Silver Cup - International Poets' Society, Member: World Trade Center, Council for International Visitors, World Affairs Council, Academy of American Poets, LaTESOL, LAWHE, AHEAD, TRLD Conferences, Lorton Dyslexia Society, Laubach Literacy Society
Skill Sets
- Superior oral, written, listening, etiquette & large-group public speaking presentation skills
- Fluent: Spanish & French
- Published, award-winning poet & writer
- Teaching, training & instruction
- Research, persuasion & dispute resolution skills
- Customer service, logistics & troubleshooting
- Paralegal, analysis, strategic planning & due diligence
- General office management & supervision, bookkeeping (Peachtree, MS Office: Word, Excel, Access, FrontPage/HTML, PowerPoint, Publisher, PeopleSoft, Westlaw, Lexis/Nexis, Internet, various proprietary scheduling, database, testing & troubleshooting programs)
Timeline
Management Development Specialist II
City of New Orleans
06.2023 - 03.2026
Bachelor of Science - Psychology
Southern University At New Orleans
03.2019 - 08.2022
Field Operations/Quality Assurance/Control
2010Census.gov
05.2010 - 08.2010
Clerk/Office Operations Supervisor
2010Census.gov
05.2009 - 05.2010
Enumerator/Address Canvasser
2010Census.gov
02.2008 - 04.2009
Online Daily News Digest Editor
GrassTopsUSA.org
10.2005 - 12.2018
ESL/ADA Testing Administrator
Delgado Community College
01.2004 - 01.2007
Instructor
Delgado Community College
01.1996 - 01.2008
Part Time Temp to Full Time Perm Bookkeeper/Executive Assistant to General Manager
Heritage Sports Center
01.1992 - 01.1996
MA-English - Applied Linguistics, Adult & Multicultural Education
University of New Orleans
BA - Liberal Arts, International Affairs, Theatre Arts, Modern Languages, English
Sweet Briar College
Coursework - ABA-Approved Paralegal, MS Computer Networking, Seminars for Private Investigator
College Prep -
Brentwood Academy