HSD Employee Spotlight—Angelina Shell

Angelina Shell is an Administrative Staff Analyst with HSD's Finance team. While she has been a City of Seattle employee for many years, she only recently joined the department after filling in for some temporary administrative positions and learning more about the work we do in the community.

What is your role at Seattle Human Services?

I currently serve as an Administrative Staff Analyst with the Finance team. I have been with HSD off and on for three years, and permanent now for one. I am support staff for Chief Financial Officer Dee Dhlamini and Deputy Director Maggie Thompson, and I provide administrative support and SharePoint Site management for the Finance Team.

What made you want to work in human services?

I believe that working a life of service can be fulfilling. When I say working a life of service, I mean that working for your community and society as a whole is a goal to make it better. Even the smallest contribution can build up to making society more kind, inclusive, and worthy. It allows me to feed my soul as well as my belly.

How has your job changed in recent years?

I previously worked for 15 years at the Seattle Municipal Court-initially in Public Services for eight years directly assisting customers who needed assistance or had questions, and then for the remaining seven in Court Administration, Judicial Chambers, and Human Resources. Although the Municipal Court and HSD have some small overlap, the Services that HSD offers reach more people and are much more extensive than what the Court can offer, and I find that to be rewarding.

The Court is the judicial aspect of government, which means they have to be focused on the punishment of criminal acts. Although they can offer some services, the amount they can focus on is not to any level of HSD. While HSD also often connects with people only after they are in crisis, the department also has many programs that support young people, families, and older adults before they fall into crisis.

What do you love about your job?

I like knowing that I am helpful to others. That I can take a small load off someone else so that they are able to be as efficient as possible in their own roles. I like that I am challenged to learn constantly. I also like that I can collaborate with other admins and learn from the executives that we work with.

How do you contribute to HSD's overarching goals related to racial equity?

As a multi-racial woman, I had found it difficult in my youth while having to straddle the different cultures of my heritage. Contributing to racial equity in my mind is accepting people as they are. Letting them be themselves. Not expecting them to code-switch or play down their personalities or change their tones, styles, and ways of being. Not expecting people to switch to English when I walk into a room. Not judging how words might be pronounced. Just accepting who they are.

What motivates you or keeps you going?

Spite and stubbornness. Like so many others in the U.S., I am tired. Some days it is bone deep. There are days I would like to simply stay in bed, read, and sleep, but then I would not have achieved what I have in my life. I could say ambition or hope or love. All those things are worthy reasons to keep you going in life and, I admit, that a small part of me is motivated by such things. But a fair good portion of the reason I continue on is spite and stubbornness.

What's one piece of advice for HSD newcomers or recent graduates in your field?

Keep calm. Breathe deep. Look at the whole picture and act accordingly. Do not take out your frustrations on others.

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