Brandon Romstadt

Contact Information

    I graduated from UNCA in Spring, 2016. I currently work as a Communications Specialist for Buncombe County Health & Human Services. Knowing that the messages that my team and I craft are used to educate the public about vital resources like food and healthcare inspires me to do my work. It has been especially rewarding to work on a team that values an equitable approach to communications. We work to make sure all of our communities in Buncombe County get the information they need in the way they can most easily receive it. Communication has become especially important during COVID-19. We have had to pull a lot of long hours crafting messaging for various COVID related campaigns, setting up twice weekly community updates and media Q & A sessions, and brainstorming new and creative ways to increase our reach by shaping interagency partnerships.

    I started the HWP program knowing that I wanted to work in public health, I just wasn’t sure what that would look like. As I moved through the program, I got a better sense of what career options were out there. I used my internship course as a springboard for my career goal. I had contacted Buncombe County Health & Human Services before the semester had even started, letting them know what my interests were and what my internship requirements would be. I started interning with the resiliency coordinator for the county, disseminating Tipping Point mini-grants to minority owned grassroots organizations about two weeks later. I was introduced to so many people as a result of my internship and ended up sharing some of my ideas at an ACE Collaborative meeting. After that meeting, a member of senior leadership at HHS came up to me and offered me an interview for the job I currently have. Without the HWP program, none of this would have happened for me. As much as I hate to sound like a cliche, my advice to current HWP students or recent graduates is, DO SOMETHING THAT EXCITES YOU! There are so many health focused careers to choose from, so experiment until you have found (or created) the one that inspires you the most! Just like plants need soil to grow, you need to be in an environment that inspires you and uses your gifts to the fullest. So go out there and find that thing because the world needs your gifts!