Kelly Privitt

Three years of volunteering with AbilityFirst encouraged Kelly Privitt to make it her career. Since being hired in 1994, Kelly has continually sought to further herself in order to better serve and enrich individuals with disabilities in her program. She’s a certified Girl Scout trainer and has served multiple administrative positions with the American Camping Association, Southern California and Hawaii chapter. She holds a certificate in nonprofit management from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where she also earned a degree in Behavioral Science. Management is such a love of hers that she wrote an article, Developing a Strong Staff Team for American Camping Magazine. In 2006, she became Director of Programs at the AbilityFirst, hiring and training management staff, and became even more involved in AbilityFirst operations in 2013, as the Director of the College to Career Program and Senior Director of Quality Assurance and Data Management. In essence,  Kelly does a whole lot behind the scenes to make sure AbilityFirst is running top quality programs! Throughout her tenure at AbilityFirst, she has never forgotten that when interacting with others, even something as small as a smile, can make a huge difference. People are drawn to Kelly’s personable nature, with a focus on ethics, knowledge, hard work and her constant readiness to lend a helping hand to staff, participants, and their families. For guidance, she turns to the insightful words of Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”