Newsletter of the East Bay Chapter of STC
September/October 2004| Home

Member Spotlight: Sherry Smith

by Melody Brumis
EBSTC V.P. of Programs

Sherry Smith

Sherry Smith

What does Sherry do as Database Manager?

Basically, she's the data guru!

Sherry maintains the chapter’s member database, creates reports for the chapter council, helps create the member directory, and makes sure the email updates are passed on to the V.P. of Arrangements (Hillary Russak) as needed.

The East Bay Chapter is known as the friendly chapter. What does that mean? It means you get to meet new people (and network) at every chapter event. At an Admin Council meeting, I met Sherry Smith.

In this online interview, you too will get to meet Sherry. She’s not only an active volunteer, the Database Manager, but also a stay-at-home mom with an 11-month-old daughter. (How do you spell balance?)

How did you get into technical communication? How long have you been in it?

Right out of graduate school, I got a job researching and writing management consulting reports for the banking and healthcare industries. I then worked for a software company that had developed operational performance and productivity benchmarking products for hospitals and medical groups. I wrote documentation for the collection of financial data and also worked in product management doing product design. In my final two years with that company, my career took a more technical turn and I began programming in SQL as I led a project to merge benchmarking data sets from two operational databases together.

In a non-writing job earlier in my career working for a U.S.-based foundation in the Philippines, I evaluated local non-profit agencies dedicated to children's welfare in Manila and made recommendations for funding.

What kind of work do you do? Enjoy doing?

Right now I am a stay-at-home mother to a daughter born in September 2003. I expect to remain out of the workforce for at least the next two years. I enjoy technical writing, of course, especially for database-driven products and the healthcare industry.

What brought you to STC? The East Bay Chapter?

I have been a member for three years (according to the database—I don't remember). I came to STC to give my career more direction. I have lived and worked in the East Bay for eight years, so the EBSTC was a natural choice. (I am originally from Northern Virginia.)

As Database Manager, what have you learned about our chapter?

We need to recruit members with last names beginning with Q, U, X, and Y. Then we will be able to cover the alphabet, a noble recruitment goal.

What is the biggest challenge for technical communicators?

The biggest challenge for technical communicators is to minimize user frustration with overly complex products and information overload.

What do you do in your spare time?

I spend my time refereeing my 11-month-old daughter, Laura, as she attempts to pet our cat, crawling into hiding places so that she can find me, preparing various mushy foods, singing off-tune in futile efforts to get her to take a nap, and taking her to coffee shops so that she has the opportunity to babble at people. In my spare time, I drag my family bird-watching and wildlife-viewing. My husband puts up with attempts to go to out-of-the-way places where wildlife may or may not be at the time. Then if there is wildlife, Laura's squealing scares all of the animals away.

What is your favorite book? What is the last book you read?

My favorite book of all time is a children's book called The Secret Garden. I re-read it when I was pregnant and realized that the scenery described in that book started my life-long love of the moors of England and Scotland. I always had a desire to see the moors (which I first achieved when I lived in Britain in the late 1980s and early 1990s), and now I realize where I first read about them. The last book I read is Eric Carle's picture book about endangered animals called Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?

What is your favorite movie?

Favorite movies are the Lord of the Rings trilogy due to the beauty of the New Zealand landscape and the compelling characters.

What is your best vacation?

A week in New Mexico: sangria in Santa Fe at a restaurant in an old monastery, hotel room with kiva fireplace in Taos, petroglyph ruins on a small hill.

What is one thing that not too many people know about you?

My husband is British (born in Scotland) and our daughter is half-British. Another unusual fact is that my father used to work for the CIA.

DMV Home | EBSTC | STC | Contact Us