Bria Day

Executive Director

SIGN: Virgo
LIKES: Surprises
DISLIKES: Mediocrity

FAVORITE QUOTE: “There is no use trying, said Alice; one can't believe impossible things. I dare say you haven't had much practice, said the Queen. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.“ -- Lewis Carroll

I think I'm supposed to sound professional in my bio, but I have a fairly laid-back demeanor. In fact, if you know me and have seen me in warm weather months, I’m usually donning a backpack, flip flops (and maybe a bike helmet) with the backdrop of Corporate America’s brief cases and high heels. So, please forgive my free-spirited nature and honesty as I tell you a bit about myself.

I hold a Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University with a self-designed major (it’s a mix of opera performance, leadership and management). So, while I don’t have the most direct path into my career at Mercer Consulting, I have developed a specialty and passion for health benefits and health management solutions for my fabulous clients. In my free time, aside from helping to create non-profit organizations, I have a loving family, fantastic friends, an awesome dog and am passionate about my work with young people. I work with high school students through the Sababa Chapter of BBYO as a youth group advisor and I work with college students through Northwestern University’s Undergraduate Leadership Program as a classroom instructor.

I am an avid bicyclist and a bike commuter (when the wind chill isn’t sub-20bazillion degrees) and I practice a lot of yoga; seriously, when I say ‘a lot,’ I mean it. It's through my yoga practice that I am constantly reminded to trust myself, to listen to myself and to believe in the little voice inside of me. Wherever my path has led me over the years, I have created my own journey and found my way in the process.

One of the resounding themes throughout my youth is my involvement in developing and supporting non-profit initiatives. While most kids were playing Atari, Sega and Nintendo (first generation, of course) I was starting student clubs and organizations that raised awareness and furthered education on what I now see as daunting topics: the environment, endangered species and animal rights.

In high school, I created Kids Helping Kids, an organization that financially assisted families in the Naperville and Aurora, IL areas who were burdened by extremely high medical bills. In college I became involved, at a leadership level, in Northwestern University’s Dance Marathon, the Nation’s largest student-run philanthropy.

So, aside from proving my nerdiness and altruism to those who have taken the time to learn more about me in my bio, organizing the masses in an effort to ‘give back’ runs in my blood. Clearly, when the opportunity to create 10SW’s I Want to Walk the Talk evolved, it became the perfect blend of philanthropy, healthy initiatives and community engagement.

I am humbled by the receptiveness of Chicago’s healthcare industry to support and promote 10SW’s I Want to Walk the Talk and am excited/anxious/insert-appropriate-adjective-here to see the greatness that exists within our community. So that’s me; perhaps a little self-indulgent, but I am verbose when I write without an editor and what I have said is very meaningful to me. Thanks for reading, for your interest and for your time. There’s always more to come, so please stay tuned…