APRIL 9, 2026
In an organization like Healthy Teen Network, our team spans coasts, time zones, and departments, which can sometimes make it a bit more challenging. Each department has its own flow, as we all work together to achieve a common goal: supporting and empowering young people in their sexual and reproductive health. Naturally, there is variation in how we engage in this work, so what happens when you’re an omnivert in this space? What even is an omnivert, you may ask?
Being an Omnivert
An omnivert is defined as an individual who experiences extreme shifts between being highly introverted and highly extroverted, often driven by mood or situation.
An omnivert is defined as an individual who experiences extreme shifts between being highly introverted and highly extroverted, often driven by mood or situation. For me, outside of work, this looks like playing all the viral games at family get-togethers with enthusiasm and being totally burnt out afterward. It can also look like a full-blown kitchen concert for my son while I make dinner. There are a lot of ways I’m extroverted, but I find it’s mostly private.
Creating Social Spaces at Work
I have found that I am my most extroverted self when I feel safe to be that vulnerable. Being extroverted to me looks like putting down that “professional” hat we’re all asked to wear and inviting my colleagues into my day-to-day. Most recently, this has looked like creating a community care space affectionately named “Working Women Wednesdays” with a close group of colleagues to just be and share the good and the not-so-good about anything and everything. In today’s world, I have found that no matter how social I’m feeling, these spaces are necessary and sustaining.
Finding Times to be “Off”
There are also so many instances, as an educator, that require you to be “on,” so opportunities to be “off” feel especially important, allowing you to reconnect with yourself as a human being outside of what you produce in a field you love. I intentionally create opportunities to get some fresh air and work away from my desk; sometimes that change in scenery is all I need for a quick reset. Other times, after a long workday, having dinner alone or taking myself on a movie date feels especially good.
Bringing Your Whole Self to Work
Being in and held by community as your whole self is possible in the workplace in small and big ways, even when it may be hard to imagine.
My reminder to you is that you are a whole person, holding your work deadlines and deliverables, and your literal or metaphorical laundry list of tasks outside of work simultaneously. Being in and held by community as your whole self is possible in the workplace in small and big ways, even when it may be hard to imagine. A well-timed meme or GIF is a whole love language of its own with the colleagues I now consider friends, and I’m grateful for the safe spaces they’ve helped me co-create.
Some of these suggestions might work well for you also…or perhaps they are a reminder that we all need to find what works best for each of us. And that building positive work environments for yourself and with your co-workers is a collaborative and ongoing process.
